Battle Of The Titans
by Phoenix-sol
Summary: Sarah Brynes chit chats with rat boy David and has yet to discover that Rachel is 'dead' I've also put in a part about The One's servants/shock troops. Cassie's gonna hit the pot light soonish.
1. The Hoax

A/N: Some of us would be happy to know that someone –me- is post this new fic. Probably because I missed all those long very…uh…meaningful reviews from all who reviewed my previous fic –I'm _not_ hinting!

Okay, just so you know what this fic is about I'll give you little points, (since the first chapter doesn't reveal anything about chapter 2) you'll see why they're brief –they're not spoilers because you'll find out all this by the next chapter. 

Ohh, this is going to be a bit difficult…let's see…

1) a bunch of fugitives announce war on the Andalites (chapter 1)

2) _The Rachel_ ends up with 'dead' crew members. (I'm not saying _anything_ else)

3) Time distortion allows Rachel –our Rachel- to come back in a strange bizarre way that can never be called clichéd –since when did I ever write anything that's clichéd? (chapter 2) 

Okay, that's it for now because going any further will spoil your fun of reading the fic, jut read chapter one for now.

**BATTLE OF THE TITANS**

** The Hoax**

A harmonious voice chirped, a figure paced, a second figure walked in circles around a fountain, and a third sat on the fountain's stones - long fingers caressing his smooth skin as he contemplated deeply.

"Yes I understand." Chirped the harmonious voice, "you have not provoked us or broken our truce. We declare war openly because it is what honorable warriors do before attacking another honorable species. We warn you that we are victorious and bold, we have nothing to fight for in our lands and wish to expand our empire."

The voice on the other line bristled, but this is madness, if you are as honorable as you state you are why declare war on a peaceful species?

"You are weak then?" The harmonious voice chirped, "are you asking for mercy?"

No, the voice snapped, but you must give us time, we have been in a very bitter war, we need time to boost our numbers, you must understand this if you wish to be fair!

The pacing figure stopped pacing. And stared at the blue face, "You are peaceful but you are in war?" he cast a glance at his friends.

The voice on the other sided grew defensive, we were being attacked, our people were under threat.

"A bitter war you say." This came from the third figure, the one who had been contemplating peacefully. "Speaker. Are you easily intimidated?"

What?

The question was not repeated. And the creature who asked the question fell silent.

The pacer paced again, he started speaking, "speaker, I ask of you this; why are you worried about opening the borders? Surely you are strong and well capable of dealing with unequipped fighters, we only wish to probe the border. No more."

I decline your request! The blue face said hotly. 

"Then we are at war, does this answers your previous question?"

We are supposed to be negotiating in order to stop war!

The harmonious voice chirped, "you miss understood us; we are only negotiating to probe your borders, you may feel free to enter the borders of our space too. Do not be under the impression that war is negotiable, if we find evil on your side then we must dispose of it quickly."

And what if we find evil in yours?

The one that had been walking in circles stopped and looked at the blue face. He said, "that is not possible, we are well evolved and our side of the universe is clean, we -"

The one that had been sitting on the fountain stones interrupted his friend, he lifted one of his long thin fingers and pointed it at the blue creature, he said, "are you willing to open borders or not? This discussion had been carried out for far too long."

And if we decline?

"You would buy yourself a war."

We could beat you.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that."

And what if I except? The blue head asked, what if I open our borders and you demand more, what then?

"We are honorable," chirped the harmonious voice, "we would not infringe our own words."

Then we open borders?

"Is that a statement, or a question?" The pacer asked.

The blue head used all four of his eyes to stare at the pacer, its just our way of saying we're playing it safe.

The communications were cut from the other side leaving the four in silence, but silence did not stay for long.

The harmonious voice let loose a silvery chain of laughter. Then softly he added; "The fools."

The third figure stood up, he was noticeably older than all of his acquaintances, though his skin was still smooth and his eyes bright, and he walked with as much grace as his fellow creatures –and perhaps with more dignity, as the others seemed casual and relaxed. This creature was built frailly with bony old hands and his hair had lost color; turning into a noble white instead of the lust redness of his friends' hair.

These creatures were not large in size, they were small, short but lithe, their features were elf-like, with pointed ears and pointed noses, their eyes were a light purple or yellow and they wore red and brown robes and gold-rimmed hats.

"Oh shut you up." The pacer announced in a gruffly deep voice, looking at his laughing friend, "Doi-yung, there is more to life than laughing and singing."

"Waib," Doi-yung chirped back cheerfully, "there is more to life than being a stiff-old-fool like yourself."

Waib, a warrior with little likening for a commoner growled angrily. He assumed an attacking position to which Doi-yung playfully ignored.

"Ankarr." The one who paced in circles said attentively to the old creature, "Are you sure this is right? Are you sure we are not asking for overkill?"

Everyone stopped to listen to Ankarr's answer. Ankarr is…or was…an aristocrat, a member of the most noble clan in Kelbrid society, but after a political scam Ankarr The Fifth of Nehrab, was denounced to commoner status and his name no longer recognized.

Ankarr had always been described as greedy, bossy and an irritable grouch who's acting skills concealed his true personality, this description fit him well and did not need any new modifications, his family and friends never really liked him but had –in the past- to honor him and shower him with false love and forced respect. But now with his name ruined Ankarr was easily forgotten by all who knew him. This and the fact that he was a runaway in a ship full of fugitives made Ankarr somewhat more cranky –if that was possible- and his words of 'wisdom' harder to seek.

"My dear friend Chlab." Ankarr started, looking wistfully at his other acquaintances, an air of nobility suddenly overcame him, he smiled his forced smile and his beady eyes were almost swallowed up in wrinkles, "we are no longer real Kelbrids, we cannot fight for Kelbrids since they will not fight or us. Not that it matters because the Kelbrid authority is trying to kill us, but, my point is, life is very dear to me…er…us all. Yes, and for that matter we must do whatever we have to do so that I survive, er, we all survive." He coughed loudly, "it is in my interest to save you and all of us who lives on the kind ship Hathy and may she forever be so kind and generous to us."

Waib rolled his eyes and Chlab stared at Ankarr skeptically. Doi-yung started to giggle nervously as the fool Ankarr continued, trying to poorly conceal his concern for his own welfare. "so it is my responsibility as Ankarr The Fifth of Nehrab to open borders to allow us easy escape from Kelbrid authorities and the much hated Whole." Ankarr closed his eyes and nodded his head, his old voice continued on oblivious to the others remarks and gestures, "Ahh. The Whole. Has any of you met any of The One's cohorts, The Whole who serve The One? The Whole who are only whole when One had knocked off one too many?" Doi-yung laughed hysterically. But everyone else had ignored Ankarr's babbling and started to continue about their day.

"Ah, I see young Doi, you like my pun?" Ankarr mused, "a good one it was, fast and clever and swift. Yes, and just-"

"And just as old and worn out as you are!" this exclamation came from Vynily, the priest/medicine-man on board, "why don't you stop your blather and help us fix our defense screen?! Our run in with the Stalkers hadn't helped much."

"Ah, Vynily," Ankarr said with another one of his forced smiles, he attempted to fake a cough and his back slumped, when he spoke his voice had a fake quaver to it. "I am old, weak and starved, not as young as I used to be, I'll tell you what, I'll go to my quarters and if I ever get better I'll tell you."

Waib, the warrior snorted, "Lets hope you never get better."

Ankarr ignored the remark.

Chlab hoped over the fallen conduits, he knelt down to the defense screen to examine the power readings. "Aright everybody, enough of the fooling around, Pilot? How much could Hathy spare us in respect of energy?"

Through Chlab's communicator came pilot's voice, "Not much Commander Chlab, Hathy's left engine has been singed and we're draining power really badly-"

"Well," Chlab said sounding annoyed, "have the Darn's take care of it." The D-A-R-N's or 'darns' where the ship's Data Analysis and Repair Net System, they are the small robots that take care of Hathy's condition and health.

"Commander Chlab, I have detached as many Darns as I could but it is still not enough, we must call for help."

"Pilot," Chlab groaned, "why do you always come to me with bad news? You know what happened last time we tried get 'help'."

"I know, Commander," Pilot said tightly, "but you must remember that my sole concern is Hathy's health, if we do not conduct the appropriate repairs there is no way Hathy will survive this assault." Pilot paused suddenly and when he continued there was a hint of anger suppressed in his voice, "This assault has been mainly triggered because of _your_ presence on board, I do not think it is fair to leave Hathy in pain like this."

Everyone stopped fidgeting and they started to look at each other. Chlab assumed control of the situation, he spoke softly, "Tell Hathy we did not wish to harm her, and we would do our best to preserve her, now, Pilot, will you please shift energy levels?"

Pilot considered, when he spoke he spoke hesitantly, "Commander Chlab, if I shift the energy levels then Hathy will not be able to reach…help. If energy levels are left in the current ratios then we would get there in time."

This caught everyone's attention. Doi-young stopped smiling.

Waib said, "Pilot, what sort of 'help'? We are on the boarders of Kelbrid territories, we would not gain help from Nehrab outstations. Or any of the One's bases."

"Hathy feels like it is worth a try. As you all know, she does not wish to jeopardize her offspring's health."

Hathy is a female Olligian ship. Although she is big and her defense screens satisfactory, she did not have any weapons and in a fight she could easily lose. Three cycles had already passed since the crew first discovered that Hathy was pregnant, Pilot and Chlab were genuinely happy for her and fully understood the dangers of such a finding. Doi-yung and Vynily were excited at the prospect of having another ship and constantly reminded Hathy of their support. Ankarr and Waib were not so pleased, in Ankarr's words "She better move as fast as she used to with another ship inside of her or we're ending up inside a Nehrab outstation or one of the One's many bases before you could say 'fool'." Waib simply said, "We will only profit out of this if her off spring is a male battleship."

For everyone's personal reasons they did not want to lose either the offspring or the mother ship. So, it was then decided with a sigh from Chlab, that they advance to the 'help site' defenseless and half battered going with the hope that Hathy's instincts were not –as Ankarr put it- 'rusty'.

Hathy's crew had journeyed together for many cycles, all of the crew were fugitives with the exception of Chlab –he was the result of an experiment gone wrong. Doi-yung is a runaway, Vynily a priest accused of fraud. Waib wanted for impersonating rank of a general and killing three comrades. Ankarr's story is as pathetic as any of the others' stories. The only person on board unscathed by the profiles of the others was Pilot.

Kelbrid pilots are special because when one is appointed to a ship; he is to stay with her or him for the rest of his life and the ship's fate is no different than that of the pilot. Pilots of Kelbridian sentient ships form a mind link to the ship's computers and become one with the machine. So naturally, if anyone wished to communicate with the ship they do it via Pilot.

Of all the crew members it was Pilot who was the most unnerved when the sight of help reached his senses through Hathy. They were two unfamiliar ships, both black ugly and very formidable in battle. He wondered briefly why Hathy was drawn to them.

And then, in a blur of action and bright green light, the smaller of the vessels rammed the larger one.

The larger one maneuvered in answer to the assault and fired it's weapons. When the ship's onboard sensors caught the presence of Hathy the ship seemed to waver -uncertain.

And then, for some unknown reason, the dark large vessel turned and fled into Z-space.

Since you got this far, you're not leaving without reviewing. Now. Please? I need to know what you think of this.


	2. Yoni

**A/N: **Glad to see this fic is interesting, if you ask me, the first chapter isn't half as good or exciting as this one, but it was necessary to make it chapter one. Otherwise I couldn't explain what's going to happen in the next chapter _and_ keep the suspense. Just so no one get confused by this; Rachel _died_ in #54. It happened. Marco, Ax, Jake, Tobias and Cassie know she died. So, theoretically no one knows who 'Rachel' in chapter 2 really is…hmmm, I'm losing you. I tell you what, read chapter two, then, when the next chapters are out you'll get it. It's sort of milked in…as for my other fic, third brother, Phoenix I'm working on it, I was stuck on some minor issues but when that writer's block is cleared I'm going to post new chapters.

Morpherkidvb; you (and everyone) would be happy to know that you're not going to be referring to chapter one in a while, the next couple of chapters are all about Rachel. As for the literal use of mothership I didn't come up with it myself, as Esplin 6673 said 'it's a Farscape rip-off' (I _love_ Farscape –who wouldn't?) I just got the idea from them, the had sentient ships zipping around so I thought cool, why don't I use that?

More info on the Kelbrids later, and oh, you'll like that part.

Okay, thanks for all who reviewed, I didn't expect it would happen so fast (which is why I'm posting the next chapter a day after the first…I managed to wrap it up) If we're going at this rate you'll get a good fic, I love reviews! =) 

**BATTLE OF THE TITANS**

** Yoni**

** What was before...**

A flash of bright white light.

A tumbling roar and the G-forces tugged me down. I flew…tumbling down the cliff, my head hit a rock, I spun in the air, helpless as I lunged into a deep green ocean.

I never even felt the collision. Just blacked out. I was half conscious, alert enough to realize I was floating underwater but too stunned to do anything about my drowning.

And then…the bright light again.

I saw myself the way you look at any other person. I looked at me from far away. A helpless girl drifting underwater…the undercurrent caressing my long hair, my limbs hanging lifeless, the light intensified, and in my fading memories -the dark silhouette of man diving hands outstretched to save me…

*** *** ***

**And what became of it....**

I jerked, electrified as thunder crashed above me. I was up on my two feet before anything or anyone could touch me, my temper flared and my eyes scanned the surrounding crazily.

A soft chuckle bounced off the rock walls and the little underground lake trickled with laughter. After I was sure nothing unusual was near me I turned away from the entrance, still annoyed with the teasing laughter. 

I settled back down in the nest and tried to sleep. Somehow, despite my temper and my aggression, I didn't find his presence overwhelming or alarming. Maybe it was my constant struggle to find a way to assert myself, and prove my independence. Or maybe it was because he didn't provoke me or irritate me the way all the others did. But I was not sure, either way, his presence tended to cut my temper short.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on breathing deeply, I was resting. And there is a distinct difference between sleeping and resting. When any of my kind sleeps we often assume a dead state, we become unaware of anything that moves around us. When we rest we simply conserve energy and keep a watch on the surroundings.

Danger is never far away.

Even though strength is found in numbers, I have made it a habit to distance myself from the other clan members. I am different from all of them, and that was not just by my looks.

Only Yaol would dare to approach me the way he was doing right now. He had left the underground lake and started trotting purposely to my nest, I was consciously aware of all the other bodies that scattered all over the cave's floor. None of them had awakened when the thunder struck, there were some that stirred –clan members casting a look at the entrance and then falling right back to asleep- only I and a few of the youngest offspring –still unfamiliar with the outside world- had jerked fully awake.

Yaol hopped on a rock that overlooked my nest. I half opened my eyes at him then turned away, giving him my back. Signaling that I had no intention of spend the night with him.

Yaol sighed loudly then did something I had never thought he'd do; he dropped directly into my nest.

I jerked back, scrambled to get up.

Yaol looked at me uninterestedly, like he couldn't figure out what the fuss was all about. He crouched low, his knees bent and his elbows rested on his thighs, one hand rested just below his chin, holding his face up. He watched the sky from my nest.

"What?" I asked him.

"I wonder what you see in the sky that is so different from what we see. Does blue-eyes allow you to see far?"

I watched him skeptically, "You have dark eyes and your sibling has lighter eyes, does this mean he sees better than you?" 

"These days I wonder." Yaol said smiling the way he does when he was about to joke about something, "he keeps on bumping his head on the cave roof at night. I don't, I have dark eyes. I see better in dark."

I shook my head, "you just think better in the dark, all clan members are born with good vision –until they are old like Nam- just because I have blue eyes that doesn't mean I see the sky differently than you do."

"You see different, Yoni." Yaol said, still smiling, "you are different than other girls. Even different than the dames. All the dames ever think about is to which harem they would stay in, you think far, you think like Tes. Tes is very smart. He knows what's coming and what we should do. Today, Tes says; "storm coming". All clan members come down from the trees and retreat to caves. But you were here even before Tes. I think that when you are dame then you become clan leader."

"I'm not interested in guiding your people."

"You are not like my people?"

"I am different, I feel that I am different." I shrugged.

"You feel different because the dames say you are different. Tes told me that dames believe whatever man says to them. They become what man wants them to be."

I snorted.

Yaol looked surprised.

"I'm different because _I_ say I'm different. I'm not like all the other females your clan members has, these half wits can't even think."

Yaol looked alarmed, "many dames are dumb, but few come who can tell man what is right."

"This place is just too weird." I mumbled.

"What?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Tes?"

"What about Tes?"

Yaol looked at me hopefully, "he understands?"

I didn't want to stomp on his idealism, but I wasn't about to retreat after hearing that in his view women were there just to serve 'man'. I reminded myself not to be alarmed by his thinking, after all that's what his elders taught him. The clan members think I'm an aggressive female and so have just allowed me to tag along, I would have left, really, but the wilderness was too harsh a place to live alone in.

"Even Tes would not understand, Yaol. What I am is different, I…I feel that I am not from here." I looked at his eyes –deep with concern, "I have-" I hesitated, should I tell him? "I have visions, Yaol. When I sleep."

Yaol shrugged, "I have visions too. Some are as good as eating mango and others are as bad as being run down by a leopard." He chuckled, like the idea was funny or something.

"Not like that," I said, I decided right then that the only reason that I allowed Yaol to come so close was because I needed someone to understand me, being heard helps. "Different visions, visions outside the woods and the lagoon…I think my visions come from the stars."

Yaol said, "very strange things come from the stars, yesterday, I heard Tal and Nawl say that a star fell from the sky" –Yaol raised his arms above him and wiggled his fingers –as if he was imitating a twinkling star, he brought down his hands so hard to the ground that I jumped at the loud clap- "BOOM-boom. Like thunder, Nawl said the Earth herself cried out in pain. Her body shook with fright and a red flower was born."

"Fire?"

"I like to call it red flower." Yaol said grinning like a fool, "Tal said he was not afraid, he went up to the dying star, Nawl said that he had to drag Tal home. See him –over there?"

I looked and far away from the scattered bodies lay the defeated form of a medium built man, "he's burned bad." I observed.

Yaol nodded sadly, "Tal could have become new clan member, but now with his injuries he will not be able to drive Tes away."

I looked at Yaol. "Is that bad?"

Yaol shrugged, "this is the way of life. You cannot change it."

"Yaarroooooooool!"

Yaol jerked, twisted in my nest.

"What?" I asked. He crouched low, and his eyes locked on the overhead rock.

"Yaoool!"

He tensed up, ready for a jump, and he did jump. He jumped just as another clan member scrambled above the rocks.

"YAAAO-ergh-grrr!" The call was cut short into a surprised snarl. And the two went rolling off the rocks, bouncing to the ground with a painful sigh.

I ignored them, it was Yaol and his little brother. They usual fought like that, I didn't know why Yaol exaggerates his tension. But he does. I suppose it was to make it look realistic.

Watching the two fight provoked something deep within my battered unfilled memory. For some reason my heart filled with sorrow and pain. I felt as if I had lost something valuable. Some sort of friend, but for whatever reason, the dam in my brain wouldn't budge…the wall wouldn't collapse.

I jerked up snarled at the two to quit it. Yaol and his brother as well as a few other clan members looked at me surprised, why would I break a harmless fight?

Tes woke up, he rose from the ground and trotted purposely towards me. I felt myself bristle; even though my memories were incomplete my personality was intact. And my personality said that it hated to be threatened like that.

I would have fought Tes -and lost badly. He was at least three times heavier than me and much, much stronger. So I decided to withdraw before he got too close or anything.

Which was also a bad decision; out of the protective cave I was cold and soaked within seconds. I noticed that Yaol had not followed.

So much the better, I thought bitterly, after waking up to this reality and spending a long period of time in it, I have decided that the place reeked.

It wasn't like I could just say 'no way' and get out of there. I wanted out, but it isn't this easy, you see, there is another clan whose boundary slightly overlaps ours, and they don't like us at all. They'd kill me if they saw me alone. Tes don't like them either; they're a bachelor group. They have a total of no more than fifteen males, nothing compared to my clan's members, at any odd month there would be at least sixty five members, give or take the elders that die and the newborns that never make it.

That's all the humans I'll ever see, if I run north I'd run into the Sagr's bachelor's group, and that's never a good idea, well, it's worse if you were a boy because they'd kill you and then maybe eat you. And if I run in any other direction…well, sooner or later I'd hit water; we were on an island. I found out that if I walked at ease west of the nest then I would reach the coast in less than four days. If I took the northern direction it would take me five days. Now going east would take me no more than a day. But it's a dangerous walk and besides, if I walked east I might bump into Sagr and his subordinates, which like I said, is not so good an idea; I've seen them attacking my clan, they'd kill men and separate some of the dames from the clan, they'd whisk them off north and if the dames were lucky and smart, they would be able to escape and come down south –which they always did, either that or the journey killed them.

The dames would be all reaccepted by Tes, and if any of them were pregnant he'd simply wait for newborns to come and then he'd kill them.

So I was stuck.

Not that I had an alternative. This is my home, I can't ever remember having any other home.

I came to know these humans pretty well, but I could never familiarize myself with them, I'll never feel at home. They were different; my brain screamed to me that they were too different.

And I was normal?

What about my visions? The ones that portrayed a life with lighter skinned humans with light eyes and light hair doing strange things and holding strange objects? Was that my previous life? Did I even have a previous life?

But my old life was more than just watching other humans that looked and acted like me, there were…challenges, the battles, they were very much like territorial battles; I knew I was fighting an enemy that had invaded my homeland. But this enemy was far more terrifying than any plain old leopard or one of Sagr's nuisances.

Okay, leopards are scary, I admit that. But you _see_ and _hear_ your enemy attacking, you could spot them touch them and feel their existence. Not like this other enemy…this enemy that…

Frustration boiled down on me. I couldn't remember.

And I was soaked. I was cold too. I had to hide away from the storm.

Don't forget. It has to be automatic by now. There's a little box...yeah, that's it! Hit it!

(I'm killing anyone who says the idea is old. I came up with it, I never heard of it before, I've read Rachel being deaf or blind or a timeline goes haywire or whatever, but this is different. Trust me on it. I think it very good with plenty, did I say plenty? I'm saying it again; plenty of tight spots with you know who...) =)


	3. Confusion in the Nest

**A/N: **Wow. In my math teacher's precise words 'are you confuzzed'? well, uh, duh, I'd think –awful headache today, and to think that would have cleared up by now since the exams are over, well, almost- I guess I have to clear up a few things, just to make it clear (note the extended use of the word 'clear' I dont know what's wrong with me today). Here goes;

Rachel, or I should say Yoni, _is_ Rachel. But her memory is impaired whilst her personality intact. The only reason she's called 'Yoni' is because that's the name Yoal and Tes call her by –they can't just call her blue eyes or something and she can't remember her name 'Rachel'. Yoni is not a reincarnation of Rachel in #54, she _is_ Rachel. Yoni/Rachel is just as old as the other Animorphs but like I said no direct memory of them, she just has these shadow dreams of her past life as an Animorph.

It's as if she'd been plucked out of the series mid way and thrown in a deserted island with no memories of her past. On the island itself are a group of backward humans, primates, the life they live is like that of animals. Sort of anyway.

The beginning of chapter two is how Rachel got to the island, you know, tumbling off a cliff like she just appeared in mid-air. The next part is like two or three years later, I know I should have mentioned it but it slipped my mind.

I know it all sounds confusing to begin with but the story explains itself as you'll find out for yourself. For the meantime think of Yoni as Rachel the Animorph, struck with amnesia and had two/three years to adapt to a life as a cavewoman. That's the sort of situation she's in.

Comprehend? 

**BATTLE OF THE TITANS**

** Confusion in the Nest**

Next morning greeted me with a new rising sun and crisp fresh air and now that I was away from the woods and the meadows –near the border of the great island- I was happy.

Feeling very content I bolted running full speed towards the overhang. As I neared the edge I caught flashes of emptiness. Adrenaline kicked me in the stomach and just bellow my heart. My emotions soared as I launched myself off the cliff.

I fell freely, a feeling that may have terrified every wingless creature caused me to scream in mindless delight. And then, the most wonderful sensation as I made the translation from earth to air and into water, all sounds were cut off and my ears were greeted with the near silence of the lagoon.

I surfaced to breath.

"I like it when you do that."

I dove back down. And kicked to the floor of the lagoon, Yaol joined me underwater. He was naturally graceful underwater –just as graceful as he was on land. But I had an edge he would never have. I pushed for limits.

Yaol always thought of me as stupid because of it.

But I knew he loved the notion of challenge, just as much as I did. But he wouldn't just jump off a cliff because it terrified him.

I surfaced again and dove, this time not for pleasure because the adrenaline rush had already worn off, I dove with an air of purpose. The game was now more serious; now I was hunting for crabs.

In my hand I had a strong short stick; sharpened on both ends, with it I probed the lagoon-bed my eyes were useless at probing for prey in the murky waters. My hands and feet were excellent though; with them I could sense anything that swam close enough to be felt. I could make out any odd objects that lay half buried in the riverbed.

But for crabs you don't use your hands; you use a stick. Crabs tend to bite onto your fingers with large claws, if you were lucky they wouldn't make all that much damage, but most of the time you wouldn't be lucky, that's because if you touch a crab it will hold you with its pincers or it's large claws and it wouldn't let go.

I'd give it the stick, it will hold on to it –thinking it was my finger- and then he'd be all mine.

But today I couldn't find any crabs. Yaol surfaced and he too found nothing, it didn't seem to bother him as much as it bothered me.

"Are you hungry?" I asked him.

"Not much."

I looked back at the water. Wondered if it was worth another search but decided against it, maybe I'd find something else to eat.

"What did you eat?" I asked him. He was stretched out lazily in the sunlight.

"Little hoppers." Yaol said wistfully stroking his stomach, "I really enjoyed them right until Tes shooed me away."

Grasshoppers, not bad a meal if you weren't thinking about how ugly your food was. Yaol always thought it was funny how I tried not to eat insects. I'd tell him I don't like the way they taste but that was a lie -they taste great. But I…it was something in my memory that kept me from doing it too often. Couldn't pinpoint exactly what but maybe it was because of my dreams of _becoming_ insects that killed any appetite I developed for the little critters.

But it was more than that. Insects reminded me of flies, maggots, rotting flesh, death and…and-

FLASH!

_I smelled nuts. I smelled dead flesh. I even smelled the maggots squirming on the dead flesh. _

_ And I wanted them. I know it's gross, but I wanted to eat those maggots. _

_ Heavy pounding footsteps behind me! I turned sharply and ducked underneath a bush… _

_ They were faster than I was. But not as agile. I could get away. I could get away and find that dead smell and gorge! _

_ …it's Tobias. The shrew is in control. You have to assert yourself. Tell it to stop running! _

_ Fear Huger! _

_ …listen to me. You're getting away from us. You have to take charge. _

_ Fear Hunger Run! _

_ Grass and twigs and dirt. Low scratchy branches over my head. The smell of food… _

_ More loud footsteps and far-off rumbling voices yelling. They were trying to catch me. But I was fast! I was clever! _

_ But not clever enough… _

_ Like a shadow inside a shadow, I felt it descend on me. Terror like nothing I'd felt before swept over me. Something deep, deep inside my brain cried out. _

_ It was the ultimate fear! The ultimate horror! It was the enemy I could not defeat! _

_ And it was coming for me! _

FLASH!

"AAAAAARRRRRRGHHHH!"

"Yahh!"

"Arrrrrgghhhhhh! Arrrrgh! Arrrrrghhhh! Aahhhh" I was screamed uncontrollably! My eyes were wild and my heart stuck to the back of my throat. Adrenaline flooded my blood but it was no longer enjoyable. The adrenaline made me feel sick and uncomfortable. I looked around me crazily, where was the predator? Who was after me?

"Yahh! YAAAAH! Yah!" Yoal was screaming with me. He tore towards me, "what? Were is it?"

I stopped screaming. Swallowed, I felt sick. "D-Didn't you see that?"

"No! Where!?"

I swallowed again, my head swam, "that thing…"

"What thing?" Yaol looked startled.

"I- I don't know…it's not safe. Lets move." I smattered.

Yaol cautiously followed me as we went on, the feeling of being watched stayed with me, the memory of bolting from a powerful predator stung me. 

"I don't think you saw anything." Yaol said finally, "I didn't see anything."

"Then why did you run with me?" I muttered, already feeling foolish, maybe I jut imagined the whole thing.

"I- well. Your screaming alarmed me."

"Figures." I muttered to myself, I wished he'd jut leave me alone for a while. But he didn't. Instead he jogged beside me, keeping pace.

I stopped suddenly. Cocked my head and sniffed the breeze, what was that smell?

"Smoke." Yaol said, "from the star that fell from the sky."

"The fire stopped?"

"Yes." Yaol said, he turned and started heading back to the clan, "the rain yesterday stopped it, don't you remember?"

"Yeah…"

"Come." Yaol said. "Lets go back before nightfall."

"No." I said, "you go ahead, I'm going to stay here." I stared as if enchanted by the smoke.

"_No._" Yaol said firmly, reading my mind, "that is not a good idea."

"But it wouldn't hurt." I whispered, I didn't dare take my gaze of it, "just a little peek…that's all."

"But it would hurt." Yoal pointed out, "Remember Tal?"

I nodded my head and reluctantly broke my gaze, my cool blue eyes locked on Yaol's own dark eyes. "We'd better go back home before nightfall."

You see, when night falls, that's when the leopards rose to the trees and start their hunting…

Hunting humans that is.

* * * * * * * * *

The clan was busy reestablishing their destroyed nets. Last night's storm had a strong gale and leaves and twigs don't stay long in those conditions. The home nests were well hidden by a strand of large trees, huge branches formed a sort of disjointed cage around the area, the nests were built on cleared ground and the trees gave us shelter from the burning sun.

The home nests would have lasted longer if the clan was home yesterday. But on that day Tes had moved them west so that they could have a full advantage of the high tide. The high tide usually brought in a large collection of fish which the clan hunted. I remembered that day, all of us retreated into the sheltered caves with full stomachs. No one was hungry. If we were closer to the home nests then Tes would have led the clan back home, but with last night's gale it would have been a hazardous journey, so Tes led the clan to the caves.

I looked at Tes now. His skin was a distinct bronze that none of the other males had. He wasn't helping out in repairing the nests, instead he crouched back on his heels keeping watch over the clan, for a brief instant our gaze met. He stared at me and I looked away pretending to be interested in a nearby tree branch.

Not all of the clan members were capable of speech. Many of them lacked this skill and resorted in making a range of noises that compensated for lack of speech. But I wondered about this for a while. How had these bunch of beasts manage to get stranded here? I mean, surely they didn't swim all the way here.

I thought about the bachelor group, I never heard any one of them utter a comprehendible word. But really, the sounds were a language made us by these people. I knew how to speak it and if I attempted to speak my own way no one would understand me.

No one but Yaol. It took time and a great deal of effort, but I managed to teach him what he called Yoni's tongue. I searched for Yaol but I couldn't find him, I jumped up and climbed the outer cage, the outer cage is were the men had dragged the largest of branches and aligned them to form a sort of protective barrier. These branches were very thick and if I were to stand by them their diameter would jut touch my hip. They were sturdy enough to carry the weight of eight grown males though I noticed the smaller branches creaked under Tes' weight.

In between the horizontal bars of the cage grew creepers, these plants were extremely hard to penetrate and every week some of the clan members would have to sharpen stones to cut away new entrances; the creepers really grew fast. 

I settled down in my private nest –away from all the others, and tried to get some shut eye, if I slept now I could have my guard on at night, I had a feeling that the storm made it difficult for the leopards to find a decent meal. 

A shadow fell over me but I paid no attention to it, I dismissed it thinking it was Yaol fooling around like he usually does, a voice grunted above me but again I dismissed it, it was only after I felt the hot breathing down my neck did it occur to me that Yaol did not breath this heavily.

My eyes snapped open suddenly and I felt m blood freeze and my heart stop to a standstill.

Tes.

It was Tes.

I felt my face muscles twist in anger and fear and I uttered a warning sound, Tes jerked his head back a bit but didn't move away. He ignored me again and crept in closer.

Now, let me tell you something, it may not have meant much to any of the other 'dames' as Yaol called them, if Tes moved in this close -because he often did- but it alarmed me greatly, plus, unlike any of the other humans on the island, I liked to imagine their was a physical barrier that prevented anyone from standing that close to me.

So I struck.

I felt my finger nails rip at his face and he uttered a menacing growl, his hand came down more in surprise than a counterattack, he left me with a very red and steadily painful bruise.

But the bruise was nothing compared to the relief I felt at his absence. I felt like I could breath normally again.

I felt eyes on me and when I turned to them I caught Yaol staring at me oddly. Annoyed I turned away and forcefully tried to sleep. The image of Tes's face popped in my brain and suddenly, sleep wasn't so inviting.

Suddenly, I yearned to have a friend that understood me perfectly, a friend that looked and acted like me, someone I could trust with my feelings and didn't try to pressure me into doing something I didn't want –or accept- doing. It wasn't fair, I realized, I felt like I didn't belong to this world. I felt that every piece of living thing on it rejected me.

Despite my troubled thoughts I fell asleep, and again, I had those dreams, weird out of the world dreams, dreams that didn't belong to this world, dreams that were like me.

I didn't remember any specifics when I woke up. My heart was thudding dully and it wasn't because the night was pitch black. Something deep with me had stirred, something dangerous, beautiful and worthy of my attention. I didn't know what it was, but I knew deep down inside, amidst all my suffering in this harsh world, I had a similar counterpart that lived as wildly as I did, I knew, I don't know how, but I knew I had a friend that was half beast half man. A friend that had to cope living in a world that was not his. And like me; confused and afraid of what a tomorrow would bring.

That's when I remembered my little vision by the lagoon. I remembered with startling clarity that fierce predator that was stalking me, the shadow that had crept up behind me to kill was in a mysterious way, the friend in my visions. That monster that perused me in my day-vision was linked in a terrifying way to the friend that beckoned me in my dreams.

I tossed and turned at night, probably making a lot more noise than I usually did. I heard annoyed sounds being emitted in my general direction but I didn't care about them, they didn't scare me, even Tes didn't scare me. Never mind I was a weak light girl with a temper that did not match my size and intelligence that outflanked Tes's brain capacity… I felt…

I felt powerful.

I felt like I weighted not in a few mere pounds but hundreds. I was no longer puny and small I was heavy and thick with muscles.

Another annoyed clan member sniped at me. She was telling me to shut up –my stirring had started to alarm her child.

No one sniped at me. I was Yoni. I was Yoni The Mighty. No one bothered me. Not this fool of a dame and her child, not Tes or Yaol. If someone crossed my line I'd tell them who was boss! Sniping at me indeed, I'll show her!

With that, I growled back at her, but, no, it couldn't have been me…what?

Clan members shifted and scrambled away from me.

I tried to stand up but I fell heavily. What the…I didn't have hands! I was heavy! My sparse clothing were torn and my sense of smell and hearing…

The amount of noise I was making finally woke Yoal up, I sensed that he had flipped on his side and one of his feet kicked me blindly in the face.

"YYYYAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Yoal screamed, probably horrified at what his foot touched. Even to me it was clear that it wasn't my face as I felt it.

I tried to touching my face but no, it was all wrong, no hands! No HANDS! Where were my hands?! Where were they? My tongue touched strange sharp teeth and oh nooo. Oh noooo.

More people were starting to cry out in alarm, I was giving off a strange sent. They were scrambling off…and stumbling blindly in the nest.

Someone –Tes it was- was sounding the alarm that meant a predator was here.

Predator! Nasty leopards!

I stumbled to my feet but fell on all fours, what? What was going on here? Why can't I move any faster? Why was it so hot anyway?

More mayhem sounded as the sixty or so humans found out that the entrances were not cut properly and they were trapped inside. There were only a few small entrances but the creepers were tough to push away.

I heard Yoal calling my name, I'm here I wanted to say, I'm here, but what came out of my mouth was horrific even to my own sensitive ears.

"HHOOAAAAAR!"

Once I heard that I couldn't stop, I felt myself go crazy. I screamed and screamed and screamed and just couldn't –for the life of me- stop.

"HOOOARRRRRHHHHOAAARHHHHOOAARR!"

It was utter pandemonium when all that went out, I heard the crazed shrieking of my kind and oh god, how many leopards attacked? They usually came one at a time but what was this…?

I felt that almost everybody had cleared the nest, I followed them afraid to be left behind.

Outside the nest I could see a bit better but my vision was blurry. Blurry as though it was it didn't stop me from seeing Yoal. Relieved I trotted towards him.

For some reason they all ran, Yoal's eyes glazed with terror as I lumbered towards him. "YOOOAAAAAHH, HOAAR, YOOOOAAAHHHHRRR."

I was trying to say his name bit wasn't working. I could only grunt or roar, Yoal looked like he wanted to dig a whole bellow ground.

But it was me, Yoni, his friend, didn't he recognize me?

Yoal screamed in terror as I sniffed him over, yes, it was him, why couldn't he recognize my sent?!

Yoal started crawling away from me and I followed him moaning sadly, _help me Yoal, what is happened to me?_

As all the tribe disappeared I dropped back calling in misery and despair, I wasn't a freak, I may have been different, but I was like them. I looked like them…

No. I used to look like them, now I looked different, and in my brain I was different too.

I collapsed my bulk to the ground sobbing and crying trying to picture what the old Yoni looked like, the Yoni that had pretty sky blue eyes, hair like the golden sun and little pink lips, were was she? 

(just as a note; the 'FLASH' had been taken out of #2, the visitor it's called, right? And at the end Rachel morphed into her grizzly bear by accident. She doesn't know she could morph –remember, no direct memory of her past.)

Oh, and don't forget, I'm _really_ fond of reviews. So please review. Okay? Please? _Please?_ I need to know what you think of this and your reviews sort of help me write the next chapter, you know, as an answer to your questions. 


	4. The Fallen Star

**A/N: **Angleofcloud9 had a very clever insight, it came in the form of a question so I'm adding it here to answer anyone else's thoughts on this;

"I just really figured out the significance of Rachel turning away from Yaol, "giving him my back. Signaling that I had no intention of spend the night with him". So does this mean that they're more than friends already, maybe even married in whatever primitive way they have, or that Yaol just wants to be? Has Rachel completely forgotten Tobias?"

Like I told Angleofcloud9, the answer is yes and no. They're a little bit more than friends but nothing came down between them. Even Rachel herself wouldn't realize how close she is to Yoal until later. As for her forgetting Tobias, well, I wouldn't say she couldn't remember him, he's in her dreams but she doesn't know him as a person or what he looks like, she identifies with him only because Tobias is half beast half man. Rachel/Yoni reckons she's half beast half man too –Rachel's personality huh?- Plus that thing with morphing the bear.

Aside from that I have nothing to add. *grins meekly* read. Read and then review. 

**BATTLE OF THE TITANS**

** The Fallen Star**

I woke up startled, in my dreams I was chased by a friend that was foe. By a fierce predator that was half beast half man. In my dreams I would be his partner. In the clan we lived with I was despised, true we were different from the others, true we were both half man and half beast, but unlike my friend who was cherished and appreciated –I was despised and feared.

I looked like a normal member of man kind, I was remarkable and very graceful. My looks marked me as one of the most elite and attractive of my kind, I had all the power I wanted, I could have any friends I wished.

But whenever I turned, my friends would cringe behind my back.

They liked my other friend. The friend that was my partner, the hideous monster that I chose worthy of my attention. In form he was powerful and strong and a high place in the food chain was reserved for him. He was mean and hooked and his eyes were cold.

But in his mind and soul he was man. He was gentle and carrying and wise.

I looked like man. But my heart was of stone and my brain filled with ruthless ideas and bold inventions.

I was reckless, fearless, and quite out of my mind. Inside, I was nothing like man. I was beast. Just as horrid and as monstrous as the thing I was the day before…or was that a dream? An illusion, I couldn't remember.

I looked down at my hands and kissed them, I looked down at my body and hugged myself. For now I was to all Yoni, Yoni and nothing else, my brain was my private place, and no one knew who I was inside there.

No one would if I kept quite about it.

Yoal knew I was different. He knew I was beast.

And now Tes did too. He knew I was different, I saw it in his eyes.

I scared them. _I_ _scared_ them. Me. I did it.

Instead of feeling happy I shuddered, yesterday proved what could happened if my wishes came true, and no, for the sake of the stars and heavens, no, I wanted someone to keep me in line. I didn't want to turn into a horrible monster. I hated my life. But I liked Yoal. And yesterday, when I was a monster, Yoal didn't even recognize me.

I hid a little sob and scrambled back on my feet. I looked myself over; I was cut and scratched in a dozen places , which wasn't so odd –usually the branches and trees did that to you. But this time it hurt more since I lost all my clothes in the nest when I turned into the horrible monster. I shuddered.

I wished I had something to wear, really, the thick deer skin kept insects off you, like this, no way would the insects leave me alone.

I sighed loudly and thought maybe if I went in the nest I would find something, not everybody made deerskin to wear but I liked doing it. Besides, almost everybody –aside from the kids- made a point of covering themselves below waist – I didn't even have that much on.

Maybe if I found Yoal he'd help me find something.

I hoped he'd recognize me. He scared me last night, screaming like that at me.

I shivered, not because it was cold- it was plenty hot, but because I was scared.

I heard twigs snap behind me.

I froze.

Another twig snapped.

Another two snapped.

I jerked. _Run,_ my brain screamed at me, _run Yoni run_.

But I guess most times I'm stupid in that respect, I liked challenging my enemies, if it was a leopard I'd give him a good fight, then I'd run away. Yeah, why not do that? I've done it before. And besides, I'm done with running away from myself and my fears. This is where it all stops, this is were I set it right; if I'm going to be stupid, okay fine, but with limits.

A soft snarl came from behind me.

I whirled round to encounter my enemy.

My heart sank down a deep pit.

How I wished it was a leopard.

I was staring directly at Sagr, he wasn't so far away.

My heart started to thud. _Stupid but with limits_. My words echoed deep within my brain.

I ran.

I ran and ran and ran with no idea where I was going.

*** *** **

I stopped running. I lost him. Good, now I could relax a little. Now I could rest.

But no. I couldn't, I heard the crackling of a soft fire. There was smoke.

Then it hit me, and when it did hit me hard I started to tremble. I was near Yoal's fallen star!

I wanted to run away of course. But I didn't. A stupidity similar to my earlier stupidity steered me towards the light gray smoke.

I whimpered, why did I do this stuff to myself?

The smoke was coming from what looked like a bowl in the ground. The fallen star had made a hole in the ground.

I edged towards it, totally careful, my senses all aimed at the smoke. My heart thundered my fingers tingled. I liked the rush. I was afraid, but I liked the danger.

I swallowed hard and pushed myself over the lip. I stood on the rim and looked down. The heat of the dieing fire scorched my tender skin. I back away from the fire and edged towards the black singed parts, they looked like pieces of…shining stuff –stuff that made stars twinkle at night- and something else that was dull.

I crept closer.

I gasped.

There were humans, maybe they were dead, but I didn't know. There was a girl…no a dame, she was that much older, but a young dame. And there were two men. And a smaller, shorter boy. I wondered towards the boy.

His skin was smooth and defiantly whiter than any of the other boys and men on the island, they all had white skin like me. But I noticed the other two men had whiter skin.

I bent down and touched his bleeding head. He was alive. And he was real. A smiled to myself. Good. I hoped they would wake up soon so they could survive.

I stood up and was about to leave when the boy stirred, his eyes opened and he looked around dumbly. His eyes found me and he stared really hard, when he spoke he surprised me. He spoke my tongue.

"What the…" he breathed hard, his eyelids fluttered heavily, I could see that he was struggling to keep awake. He was about my age. Just as old as Yoal but Yoal looked like he could burry his head underground in a fight. No wait, _I_ could do that too.

"Jeez. I'm dead huh?" He mumbled as he struggled to life his head above the dirt unsuccessfully, "this must be it…hot as hell and Rachel standing naked beside me…maybe this is heaven…maybe this is…"

He was out.

I turned away from him and I was about to leave when a feathery mess caught my eyes, the bird was close to the fire, that dumb thing must have been caught underneath the falling star. Or maybe he came with the falling star like all the other humans.

In any case, he was an easy meal. I grabbed him and headed into the forest.

*** *** ***

Laughing gleefully I swung down from the branches, I was looking for a good heavy rock to bash the bird's head in –it was still alive.

Usually, I would have plucked out his feathers and eaten him without hesitation, but today I felt like I needed to practice my skills, the bird was no doubt weak, so, when it wakes up –if it wakes up- I'm going to torment it a little, sharpen my skills.

It was hard getting exercise in hunting birds, they always know you're there. I don't know how leopards did it.

Now that I had stopped swing around in the trees I looked carefully at the bird. It was certainly the first of it's kind I've ever seen before.

It had a red tail; that's what fascinated me.

Maybe I wouldn't tear him apart too much, I'd show Yoal what I caught. He liked this sort of stuff.

It wasn't until I've waited for sometime, impatiently urging the bird to wake up when it started to flutter it's wings.

Jeez, Jake, what were you trying to do? Kill us…

The thing trailed off. I stared at it in horror, it could speak?!

Rachel?

It stumbled on it's talons, Jeez, Rachel is that you? I can't see so well.

I lost my voice.

Rachel?! It asked desperately, it blinked it's eyes over and over again, I started backing away in horror. Oh god, oh god, the Ellimist better not be playing tricks with me, Rachel? Rachel answer me? Rac-

He stopped flapping his wings, I guess it began to see better because it could see it was scaring me away. It was odd, I didn't think it would hurt me, but it was scaring me; food just didn't talk. And besides, I haven't told that thing it was my meal. I lost my appetite.

Then it did a peculiar thing. It turn around and gave me it's back. Em, Rachel? Is there some reason why you're not wearing anything?

But I never heard him, you see, I had already crept away.

*** *** ***

"Why did you have to wake me up?" Marco spluttered, "I mean look at the nightmare we're in, _The Rachel_ is in ruins, Stantorelli is half dead and jeez, what _is_ this place?" 

I looked up from Stantorelli, "Yes Marco, Stantorelli is just hanging onto life, he is suffering major burns. I believe we could try ease his pain with our first-aid kit...if you could help me find it."

Marco rolled his eyes at me, a human gesture I have had no success in mimicking.

Marco and I rummaged through the wreckage and found the first-aid kit, I knew what to do with burns. When I called Marco for assistance he was no help. Eventually I was done and Marco sauntered over to where Jeanne was lying down; she had hit her head hard, when Marco asked her if she found his company any soothing to her headache she replied by telling him his absence is a relieving remedy.

Still, Marco hung about her.

I would have thought it was extremely foolish if I myself had not been in a human body. Humans are prone to a various bunch of intense emotions. I guessed Marco found Jeanne attractive. He often dropped a lot of hints.

But still, Jeanne seemed not to notice and would shoo him away frequently. This had not cause Marco emotional distress, it just made him more determined to seek her attention.

Humans are so stupid sometimes.

I'm an Andalite, but in a human body. So natural I did not comply with the stupid side of humans, I'm quite smart.

But not smart enough to avoid this mess.

I didn't think I'd have done any better than Captain Jake Berenson. He did good. But we couldn't find him.

It didn't mean he was dead, because we couldn't find his body. 

We could not locate Tobias either, he is a _nothlit,_ just like me, but by choice; he is morph capable. I didn't know how. He could morph back to his old human form if he wanted to.

I did not know why he didn't. I have heard many rumors about Tobias, regarding his staying a hawk and not returning to human form, many say he could barely face life without his comrade Rachel, people say he loved her.

I have also heard –and this was from my own prince- that Tobias was indeed the son of the Great Prince Elfangor.

My prince; The Aximili of Earth, brother of the Great Prince Elfangor; it was my fault he had disappeared. I am the only survivor of my ship. I didn't know what happened to the boarding crew and Prince Aximili, if only I had been more persuasive and kept the captain on board…

"Where is bird-boy?" Marco wondered, he came towards me, "And where is our boy Jake? They should show up by now."

I said, "Marco, there is something strange going on."

"Yeah?" he muttered, "you think?"

"Yes, time seems distorted, you noticed too?"

Marco didn't move so I assumed he had noticed.

"_What?_"

I looked up, the constant movement of my head was new to me, I moved my head in human form just as often as I moved my stalk eyes.

"_What!?_"

"I know it is worrying," I said calmly, "and I still do not have an explanation or equipment to prove my assumption, but I think, I think time has changed."

Marco was staring at me in a disturbing manner, he seemed at loss for words.

Jeanne looked worried, "Menderash, what does this mean?"

I sighed, got up –with help from my very strong arms- and started to head inside _The Rachel_, "I'm going to try to boot up onboard computers, see if I could explain my assumption."

Marco looked down at Stantorelli's quite form, he nodded to Jean, "Come on, let's take him out of the sun."

As they dragged Stantorelli out of the debris and prepared to search for Tobias and Captain Jake, I headed inside our ship, gladly welcoming the shade. It really was hot outside. Hot and humid. 

*** *** ***

"These trees look very familiar to Earth trees." Jeanne observed.

I shrugged my shoulders, "trees are trees. Why would they look any different. It doesn't matter, you see, me, I'm worried about some monster that's going to come crashing out of the trees."

Jeanne cocked an eyebrow at me, "worried?"

I sighed, "okay not worried, just…just careful. Ever since Mendersh said; 'time distortion', I've been having flashes of dejavu- hey! Isn't that French?"

Jeanne rolled her eyes and started to put some distance between me and her.

"Okay," I said, "you think bird boy is anywhere here?"

"If I said yes, would it make you go away?"

"If you said no I'd go away and come back forever," I said grinning.

Jeanne ignored me.

I heard a flap of wings above me, I shook my head, "you know Tobias, you should stop making these sort of appearances a habit of yours." I a grin ripped across my face, "Jeanne and I were hitting it fine."

Jeanne snorted, she was standing a few yards in front of me, she eyed me like she didn't know what to say –which was weird because she always had some comeback lined up for me.

Tobias landed on a tree branch and started to preen his feathers. Couldn't find Jake. he said.

My eyes darkened, "Oh, man, this isn't good."

No. It isn't.

I looked up at Tobias with a cocked eyebrow, "It is? I mean, for you too?"

Yeah.

I said, "good for you man, I'm glad you're over your thing." It sounded a little heavy to my ears so I added to Jean, "I missed my everyday delivery of mouse pizza from chicken legs here."

Usually, Tobias would have replied by asking me to either wear a hat or stand under hit tree. He didn't.

I looked up at him.

I think I might have hit my head hard, he said finally.

"A lot of that happening around here." Jeanne muttered.

Yeah? Tobias said faintly.

"Yeah," I replied, then I grinned again, "I even hallucinated, and for the first time in my life, I saw detail."

Uhuh. Tobias wasn't listening to me. But Jeanne asked me what I saw. Maybe she hallucinated too.

"I saw Rachel." I said with a crafty smile on my lips, the memory distracted me from seeing Tobias's reaction. "And guess what she was wearing?"

Tobias started at me.

"What?" Jeanne said, absolutely baffled, "What was she wearing?"

"Okay," I said looking at Tobias, "let me rephrase here; ask me what she wasn't wearing."

"You're…" Jeanne said, thinking for an appropriate word to add to here sentence, she frowned and her green eyes looked prettier when she was confused, "what do you call it? Sick?"

I'm afraid not this time, Tobias muttered, I saw the same thing.

"Oh man!" I groaned, "and to think it was _my_ private dream."

"Okay," Jeanne said raising her arms and shaking her head at us, "I _did not_ see that. I saw something else."

"Yeah?" I asked.

She shrugged, "I can't remember."

"You're very fun." I teased her. "Can I refresh your memory?"

Before Jeanne could do anything and before I added specifics, we both heard a yell.

We turned around and I saw a boy, wearing very little, looking at us like he just discovered Elvis was alive.

He turned away and bolted.

I looked at my friends.

Jeanne smiled, "let's do it."


	5. Yoni meets The Rachel

**A/N: **See, I actually _read_ my reviews, why do you people think I don't? Just to prove it I'm answering someone's (JaD) suggestion. I'm putting who's narrating at the beginning of every section. I'll adjust the previous chapters when I have time.

By the way, this chapter's title was chosen due to lack of a better title. Yoni still doesn't know that the ship was named after her. And I have something important to say (that's a first) to anymore who speaks English Yoni would sound like a Hork-Bajir trying to speak English but with a lot of hand gestures, the only reason she 'spoke' coherent English at the beginning was because Yoal understood her perfectly. 

Thanks to all who reviewed! (if i had time I'd have listed the names, but i thought you guys would appreciate a chapter more than a list of names showing the people who reviewed) 

**BATTLE OF THE TITANS**

** Yoni meets _The Rachel_**

**Menderash**

I was working away on the computers, trying to get the onboard sensors to function normally when I heard it; it was a light scuffle, the sound of human feet against metal. By the time I turned my head around the sound was gone. I hadn't located the source. 

Maybe I imagined it, I wasn't too sure, so I left the computer running and abandoned the bridge…of course, I didn't leave it the way any normal person would –which was out of the corridor- I had to climb out of the hole in the bridge, an extra hatch created by our crash; this hatch would be a bit tricky to seal.

Humans are slow when compared with Andalites, they also lacked natural weapons, but besides their powerful ability to taste things with unbelievable intensity, the most useful and delightful thing in a human is their arms.

I used them to climb the hull, over the equipment and onto the steel surface of the ship. I looked around and found nothing. Strange.

I went back down. I climbed down the hatch and carefully picked footholds always keeping an eye on where I was going, I found it useful to allow the human in me to control my descent, it seemed to know what to do more than I did.

I smiled triumphantly when my feet hit solid floor; I had not fallen. I turned around to get back to my work.

"Yah!" My human body reacted to the shock by jerking away and freezing, my heart hammered wildly, if I was in my Andalite body I would have struck my enemy…of course, if I really was in my Andalite body I wouldn't be able to get in and out of the blown hole and no one could have gotten this close to me without my seeing it.

It was a human. My human brain automatically recognized the figure as a female. I did too, it was quite different from my own male body.

I shoved away the pile of emotions that surfaced into the human, I tried to concentrate on my Andalite side, that side of me found nothing appealing about that female but the human male was already excited.

Maybe that was how Marco felt ever single time he saw a female. If so, I pitied him.

"Who are you?" I snapped. But when I did I shocked myself by recognizing the human. I looked at her strangely, "didn't they say you died?"

She didn't answer, just stared.

I looked at her, then said, "I thought clothing is a necessity to your kind."

"My kind?" she repeated, she looked puzzled, "you're not human…?"

I almost kicked myself, of course she thought I was human, only I thought I was an Andalite, I covered up my error by smiling, "Do I look human?"

She looked me up and down, "Like me."

Her voice was strangely halting, like she had trouble speaking.

"Yes like you." I said. I was obviously not reacting very well to this encounter. Humans –especially the girls- seemed alike, maybe I was mistaken. Maybe this was not Rachel the Animorph.

"Not like Yaol." She said thoughtfully, "Or Tes. Me and you. Different. But alike."

I stared.

What could I say to that?

She looked down at her body, "I lost my clothes. In a…a fight. Do you have…some clothes?" she looked at me hopefully.

"Yes." I said, "come with me."

I took her outside the ship and gave her some of Jeanne's clothes, I had already engaged in long pointless talks with Marco about the importance of clothing, and in that session, I was told females wore special garments.

I gave her what I hoped was a full 'outfit' she looked at it the way I first looked at clothing when a fellow Andalite told me what it was and what to do with it.

She picked it up and shook it hard. She fingered the long sleeves and the pant legs then promptly dropped them. Again she looked at me puzzled and confused, "no, clothes are…lighter."

I frowned at that, this was the first time I met a human that did not know how to dress, that was odd. Then my face brightened, "oh, you mean the other smaller pieces?"

She answered me with a confused yes.

I gave her two items of clothing Jean wore bellow her outfit, her eyes instantly recognized them and she put them on.

She looked like she was ready to leave, I stopped her, "no."

"No?"

"You're not done." I said, I had a feeling she had forgotten about the other pieces, "what about the others items? Like this?" I pointed at the garment that covered my torso.

She shook her head and pinched the garment I was wearing, "too hot, now it's humid. Wear like that in winter. In summer no. When hunting, it's hard, makes too much noise."

She spoke haltingly and used a lot of hand signals as she spoke, this was very strange. She coked her head and her long blond hair shimmered, she smiled at me and touched my arm, "thank you."

I shrugged, "they weren't mine."

She pointed to herself, "Yoni." Then she touched my chest, "you?"

"I am Menderash-Postil-Fastill."

She stared. And then she tried out my name on her tongue, I tried to correct her pronunciation but she seemed to have a difficulty in pronouncing my name.

"Me-h-endrish. Post-it-Fast-hill" She mumbled, "Men-dehrish. Merdash? Menrdish…your name? Again?" she looked at me sheepishly.

"Men-der-ash." I said carefully, "it isn't very hard."

She never got my name, I sighed loudly and went back to work, I wished she'd just go away. She was slowing me down.

"Men-ER-dash. Mdrish…Mendiash. Ash. Ash. Ash?" She said loudly. "I call you that -Ash?"

"Whatever you want," I muttered, "just go away."

But she didn't just go away, she wondered towards the computers and watched the equipment in amazement, she looked at me, "little lights, like…like stars. In my dreams too."

"Yes, yes," I snapped, shooing her away, "pretty little lights, fascinating isn't it? Now go away. "

This time she got the hint, she left the bridge.

Unfortunately, she decided jumping up and down on the outer hull was a great idea. The noise distracted me from my work.

"Alright," I muttered to myself, "that's it, human or no human she's going to get it."

I started to climb ever so carefully –avoiding stepping on the equipment- as I went up and poked my head out of the hole. The human was now jumping up and down shrieking and howling in a very disturbing way.

"YaaaaaaaOOOOOOL!" Her voice bounced off the leaves and made my head spin, who knew humans were capable of shouting this loudly? I tried out my own voice on her, I shouted as loudly as I could.

"Will you PLEASE get off MY SHIP!" My face turned red at the shouting. The human girl ignored me, she just howled louder, "YAAAOOOOOOOOL!"

The Andalite side of me felt frustrated, the human side of me responded by making me slam my hand on the metal surface of the ship in surprising strength. Unfortunately, the impact stunned my bones and a slow ache reached my fingers, I looked at my hand; it was red.

The human very suddenly scrambled towards me.

"Hey!" I said alarmed, she looked like she was going to shove me in, "hey. No! Wait! Carefu-urgh!"

WHAM!

I rolled off the computer counsel and hit the bridge with a very painful thud, my human body did not absorb the impact very well, it left me dizzy and light headed. The human girl –to my horror- jumped on the counsel stepping over buttons and keys and started to wave her arms out of the hole, "Yoal! Here! _Et-ch!_"

Another human –a male about Marco's age- tumbled into the darkness of the bridge. He caused even more damage to the computer and I groaned mentally –humans were just not meant to be anywhere near a ship's bridge.

He first saw me and emitted a sharp bark of surprise. The human girl grabbed his shoulder, spun him around and held his face, "No. Friend."

The boy's body relaxed visibly, he even smiled, the girl grabbed his arm, jerked him towards me, pointed, "Ash. Yoal. Yoal. Ash."

I stared.

"Ash is friend." The girl said, "He give me clothes –see?"

Yoal nodded, but he looked distracted, his hands ran over the computer's keys.

"Look you too." I said my voice tense, "run along outside, I don't know _where_ you came from or even if you're human at all. Just go. I'm busy. You already half ruined my ship's computers, _go_."

Yoal slapped his chest, "human. You are different, like Yoni. You know Yoni?"

I blinked my eyes, I didn't want to have anything to do with these two, they looked human but didn't act it, they could barely speak and well…they smelled.

Plus there behavior seemed very backwards. Yoal was starting to sniff at the computer's interface. "Hot." He observed after he touched the screen.

In here! I recognized Marco's thought speak voice, he was scrambling into the hull. He was in gorilla morph. He bounced in, there you are you-

Marco stopped to stare at Yoni.

Yoal looked like he was ready to have a heart attack, he flattened himself against the hull, his face twisted in a vicious snarl. 

_No way_.

Yoni backed away from Marco, she appeared to be trembling, she leapt behind me and crouched beside Yoal.

No way! Marco yelped, hey BIRD-BOY! Hey, come here and take a look at this!

Tobias as himself flew into the bridge and Jeanne as a human hopped in. At least she was graceful enough not to leave dents the way Marco did when he entered. There was going to be no way for me to repair the computers, not at this rate.

See? Marco said triumphantly, What did I tell you? Jeanne, still think me and bird-boy here are crazy?

Jeanne stared.

Tobias's landing was thrown off course and he crashed on to the floor. He hopped up, and cocked his head at Yoni. Rachel?

Yoni/Rachel was shaking very badly, she turned to Yoal and buried her head into his shoulder moaning loudly, "It's the taking bird with the red-tail…"

It's her. Tobias smattered, it's Rachel.

I shook my head, "I asked her the same question, she says she's Yoni."

Hearing her name Yoni turned to me, "Yes?"

I shrugged.

Marco started to say something but stopped because Yoni screamed so loudly I thought my ear drums were going to be torn, I guess she never noticed him, his black fur seemed swallowed up by the ship's interior.

Marco laughed and started to demorph, this only caused Yoni greater distress, she was trapped and she couldn't escape, she looked around wildly.

Hey Tobias, Rachel's back from the dead and she still thinks I'm ugly. And-ew-urrh At this point his face changed, when he had full use of his lips again he continued, "and here goes my attempt at a fresh start with Rachel."

Jeanne looked at Marco, "even to you, this is not strange?"

"What are you talking about?" Marco said laughing, but his eyes darkened and he lost his gleeful mirth, "ever since Menderash here said 'time distortion' I was preparing myself for the worst." He looked at Yoni slyly and said, "not that this is bad at all."

Rachel… Tobias whispered, he hadn't moved, is it you?

Yoni started at Tobias bewildered. "Who _are_ you?"

You don't remember me? His voice sounded hurt. Rachel, it's me…Tobias.

"Tobias?" She wondered.

Yeah. Don't you know me?

Yoni shook her head, "No. Not the way you think I know you…but there was a Tobias -in my dreams…how did you come here?"

The next chapter you get to hear Tobias's intake on all this.

Or maybe you don't. :-p. Review and we'll see where it goes. :-p


	6. Crayak's Move

**A/N: **Feedback for your feedback section (it's officially back -for anyone who's not familiar with my concept of feedback squared; it's just where I comment on reviews, sometimes I answer questions, sometimes I just babble. Hey, I am entitled!)

~Jinako-chan

Wow, you're the first person to have used the word 'funny' and 'hilarious' in my reviews. And yes, I'm not forgetting 'cute'. *bows* thank you for proving that -at times- I can be a normal human and actually write something semi-funny. As for Menderash and Rachel being friends, its a possibility, though Menderash would just be a little bit ignorant of her. 

~JaD

Look! Another 'funny' *glares daggers at the person sitting next to her* And ALL Andalites -Ax included- think that humans are plan nuts.

~Alikat

Have you considered tap-dancing while reading? It could take drain away your energy...maybe not, hey, anyone here a coke addicts? I have friend who thinks sometime in the future people are going to have a 'coke problem' and they'll have to seek help to get rid of it...that person was so not funny...

~Anglofcloud9

Of course, you people think I'm leaving Cassie out of this? No WAY! She'll be there, but I promise you this. No one. NO ONE. Knows how. Including me, I haven't done anything about it *starts chewing on her pencil* but speaking of R/T, you people realize I'm going to drag it out, I didn't bring Yoal into the picture only to toss him away. I did it so he gets on Tobias's nerves...and yours too. :-p

~Rachel9466

I knew it would frustrate people. Hah. Your moment of agony has passed, because on the next chapter, Tobias narrates two sections...oh by the way, you know the story Salad Shooter wrote? I tried to review but couldn't (not my fault) and wow, it's a good story, I didn't read all it yet, it's kinda long, but the story is defiantly promising. 

~balh 

I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know. 

**NB: **Oh, another note. The first section happened before Jake was told Ax was missing. The next part is still on the same day but the animorphs have left to get Ax. 

**BATTLE OF THE TITANS**

** Crayak's Move**

**_Before the Animorphs found a mission..._**

Hi. My name is Brynes.

Actually, Brynes is my sir name. My first name is Sarah, but that doesn't matter. See, people call me a lot of names; it's gotten so that most of them forgot my real name.

_It's Sarah Brynes you idiots_. Yes, _Sarah Brynes_, not Scarface not Roadkill, not Crispy.

My friends call me Sarah Brynes. All the other idiots at school call me Sarah and those that hate my guts call me Scarface.

You can call me Sarah Brynes, not because you're my friend but because that's what I expect people to call me. Actually, you could forget this entire conversation because my life is about to end.

It's about to end because _I_, Sarah Brynes, wishes to end it. 

I never considered myself to be the suicidal type. I've told myself over and over again that it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter how people look at me and wince. It doesn't matter that my chances of ever getting anyone to like me are slim-to-none. People hate me. They'd just wish I'd turn and scramble back into whatever filthy corner I've just crawled out of.

They don't say it to my faces, but the body language is as clear as boiled water. 

People don't care how smart you are, that's what I realized anyway, and they don't care how brave, how simple, how caring you are. And they don't care if your IQ is high or that you could get every university across the state to beg you to go to them.

What matters is how you present yourself to people and how _they_ look and react to your form. 

Boys see a hot girl they slobber over her. They see something as crisp and as burned as I am and they cringed.

But it's more than that. You go out of the shop and drop your groceries they try to help but once they get a good look at your face they realize they don't want to bother you. People are afraid of other people who have to endure pain constantly.

I've met a lot of people of my sort; I've been in the nut house before you know. And you know what? I've met other people who had lives much tougher than mine; their problems were vast and permanent. Their minds burned by memories they wish they could just burry away.

But they get a new chance, it's easier for them, not the forgetting part, just turning a new page in life is easier. If you're permanently disfigured there isn't a fat chance for you to turn a new page, what's there to turn to? If your face _is_ as ugly as sin and you _know_ it bothers you some -there is no way to avoid that.

It would have been a little bit easier if I had friends. But there was no one I know who I could trust entirely.

My mom split three years after I was born. My dad is a creepy guy who could care less what I ate and who I decided to hang out with and what I did with them. All he cared about was discipline. I could trip my tongue over anyone I liked, but it's warned that I'd no longer have a tongue if it tripped over my father.

My dad is odd, he really is. He cares but he doesn't care. He cares about owning me, bossing me around. But nothing more. He doesn't care about what I thought, what I wanted or wished I wanted. I knew very little about my mother and since my dad never brings the subject up I never dared to.

Truth is there's a blank void in my brain. See, every day I look at the mirror and I see the scars and the burns and I know when it happened. I know how it happened but I don't remember.

I never ever want to remember.

I tell every one I knocked a pot of boiling spaghetti over my head. Of course that's what everyone and the authorities think. Do you know what people say? People say you could lie to anyone in the freaking universe but yourself.

And every time I tell people about the pot of boiled spaghetti my minds laughs at me. Mocks me.

Anyway. I'm here standing at the edge of this building; I just dashed into it and headed for the roof. I stared out at the mass of humanity and wished everyone had something better to do than that. That being exactly what I saw; the cars the crowds the noise and the jumble of lights.

I closed my eyes, all was silent and peaceful. I found myself reconsidering my decision, I even tried to reevaluate my life. But what was there to reevaluate about? When your life is crappy it's still that way no matter what you thought.

With a heavy sigh I swung my legs over the ledge and dropped back onto the roof. For a while I stared at the scene. Then I got on the ledge and walked clumsily, I really wished the wind would hurry up and knock me over.

But that never happened and I found out that I didn't have the guts to just close my eyes and jump.

Within a few seconds my feet hit the roof and I was stomping my way down the fire escape, I felt hot tears of humiliation and a bunch of other emotions well inside me. I sat on the stairs for a while trying to get myself under control. I wondered where I was and it wasn't until I went out of the fire escape staircase did I realize that I was in the mall.

Of all the places I wished to commit suicide, why the mall? I _hated_ the place; too much noise, too many people and too little privacy. 

I quickly tried to find my way out but just as quickly I was lost. I couldn't figure out where the entrances and exists were.

I wasted fifteen minutes aimlessly walking and gazing absentmindedly at the various department stores when it occurred to me that since morning I had nothing to eat. I was hungry and I knew where the food courts were.

Ever since the Andalites landed no one could go into the mall and actually find any restaurant Andalite free, especially that place Andalites go nuts over, you know, where they make cinnamon buns? If you asked me I thought that Andalites were dopey, who on or off Earth would trade technology with cinnamon buns? Technology for-gods-sake! And what in return, what? Something that's made out of dough, cinnamon, frosting and whatever it was they made those horrid things out of.

I don't like cinnamon buns, I'm more in love with tacos. I headed over to the counter and ordered a quick meal, I waited a few minutes and then headed to the tables gripping my tray tightly. I quickly found a seat and sat down, I tried to wolf down my food as fast as I could, I wasn't going to stay in there for too long, not if I could help it anyway.

It took me exactly six minutes to finish and head out of the main entrance, I considered going home but then decided against it, I checked over my money and realized that my lunch had cost me my ride home.

I kicked angrily at a coke can, it flew and clattered against an alley wall. Great. My day had just turned from bad to much, much worse, the sky had decided it was time to wash the streets and who carried if the little girl walking in the street didn't have any place to dash into for cover?

I wasn't going to go back to the mall or back home. I walked aimlessly for some time and walking aimless tended to give me time to wonder about stuff.

Not wonder, fantasies, because that's what I usually did. I tried hard not to because I'd end up feeling empty afterwards.

Of course it didn't work, and I found myself thinking about the Animorphs. I didn't think much of the living Animorphs, sure they're great and all but I fantasized most about the forgotten Animorphs. About Tobias.

Was it true he lived his life as a bird of prey? A red-tailed hawk? Is he still alive? People say the death of his love killed him. Others say he just found reality hard so fled and still other people say that his bird morph aged and died.

I didn't think much about those theories, I had my own theory. I knew deep down inside that he left to get away from what I tried to escape from day and night, and it wasn't reality that I tried to escape from, I tried to run away from humans and the complexity of life.

I felt my mood lift –despite the rain and the fact that I tried to kill myself that day- and I found myself running urgently towards the forest, I don't know why, and later I'd probably feel stupid, but a voice in my head whispered out orders, a voice in my head told me to run into the forest and make my way towards a thick tree that over looked a sweet meadow.

It stopped raining and bright clear sunlight pierced the forest floor. I walked over to the tree and touched it's smooth cool bark. Panting I pressed my head against the bark.

"What is this place?" I asked. I looked around and started to climb the tree when I suddenly froze and stopped moving.

I looked up.

My eyes found themselves staring directly into the eyes of a tense bird, his wings were cocked like he was going to fly and his tail was fanned out revealing a few red feathers.

_No way_, I thought,_ no way!_

The bird opened his wings and pushed off the bark. A breeze caught his wings and he started to drift away.

"Tobias?" I asked, uncertainly, I was already feeling stupid, "TOBIAS?!"

The bird rose out of the trees and disappeared into the sky and I stood there, without moving, staring at the tiny speck that disappeared into the gray clouds.

*** *** ***

_**When they left to bring Ax home...** _

**Sarah Brynes**

I faced the music, it wasn't exactly as bad as I thought it would be; my father was drunk and preoccupied in talking with slurry tones with someone on the phone, when he saw me coming in he yelled at me and threw a beer bottle at me, fortunately it missed me by a few millimeters and shattered in a dozen pieces behind me.

I bolted towards the kitchen, fixed me something to eat then I ran out and sat on our porch, it was dusty, creaky and half broken but it was still a porch.

I liked watching sunsets, if any one of my 'friends' ever found out about it I'd be history, the people I know –or at least the school in my side of town- did not appreciate sunsets, at least half of them don't notice that there are stars at night.

I sighed and munched on my sandwich, boy, that taco did not fill me up, I was still hungry…sort of. Truth was, I ate a lot when I'm depressed. And today was right up there.

I sighed, buried my head between my legs and sort of sat there for some time, I certainly lot my appetite, and since my father was in the living room I wouldn't dare go back in, I didn't need another confrontation.

The sound of padded feet made me lift my head, the sun had long disappeared behind the various buildings and to my surprise I saw a familiar cat heading uncertainly towards me.

Ignored it at first, hoping it would go away but it came near me anyway.

It –he- sat down on his haunches and stared hopefully at my ham sandwich. "Go away." I told him, "Find some other person to take scraps from; I'm poor, rejected and mentally disturbed –go away, you don't want to mess with me."

That cat had pretty green eyes and a strange lopsided smile, he was a gray tabby, stringy –like he was underfeed. He looked at my sandwich, cocked his ears and batted at my hand.

"Ow!" I cried out as four red tracks appeared on my hand and my sandwich dropped on the porch, "you little-"

The little sucker grabbed the ham and started wolfing it down, boy was that cat hungry, but I saw something strange about him, you know, he didn't move right.

"Okay, I guess you need the food more than I do." I told him, then I saw his collar; it was filthy, half torn and I don't know how but he managed at some point to push one if his paws right through so it sort of slung over his neck and shoulder –no wonder he wasn't walking right.

I removed the collar off him and he didn't even notice me doing it, I looked the collar over, "Hmmm, you've got one lousy name you little sucker, who the hell would name a cat 'Dude'?"

The cat looked up and meowed.

"That's only a confidence." I said to myself, "no way you like that name."

He went back to his food. Uncertainly I said, "Dude?"

He looked up, meowed and then went back to eating.

"Okay," I said, "So that's your name. I didn't know cats answered back when people called them."

Dude went on chewing his ham to pieces.

Suddenly, without warning, he jerked, his ears flattened against his skull and he hissed angrily.

"Whoa!" I backed away a little, he looked at me startled.

The screen banged open and Dude bolted as if the hounds of hell were chasing his tail.

"Get back in you no good for nothing, crazy-"

I stood up obediently and tried hard to ignore my dad's ranting. I went in and slowly went upstairs, my dad must have forgotten me because he turned away and slumped on the sofa.

Up in my room and out of my small window I spotted Dude with another cat loiter around an alley. Dude suddenly chased something and the other cat joined in. The two cats were having so much fun terrorizing the rat –which was what they were chasing- they did not notice the danger that threatened their lives. A stray dog I recognized was sniffing just outside the alley. Soon he would be on to them…

I don't know what had gotten in to me, maybe it was because I tried to kill myself, or maybe it was because of that red-tailed hawk I saw in the forest, or maybe it was because I didn't have friends, whatever the reason I tore outside my room, I stomped downstairs and would have gotten out of the house except for my dad stopped me.

"You get back here! Where do you think you're going?!" My dad growled at me.

"I'm going out!" I shouted, "why do you even care?"

"Don't you dare talk back at me!" he thundered, he started to get up but slid down the sofa, he was pretty drunk.

"You're pathetic!" I screamed, a furry of emotions overcame, "I hate you! Why do you have to be like that? Why can't you be like all the other dads?"

My dad swore at me and got up, half swaying he tried to slug me, I dodged him, "I'm going out. Whether you like it or not!"

My dad glared hard at me. "You go out of that door and you'll never come back, you here me?"

My blood boiled. What good has he ever done to me? I made up my mind, life on the street had got to be better than this. "FINE!"

My dad looked at me stupidly, like he didn't get what I said. I smiled a little and felt a strange sort of power. Now I was in charge of my own life. I didn't need him. "I'm going, and I'm never going to come back."

He didn't say anything, just went back to his sofa.

I stomped out of the house, really, I wasn't going to come back.

"Hey!" I yelled once I was on the street, "get away from there!"

The dog barked once and jumped in the alley. The cats almost jumped out of their skin.

MEERROOOOW

ARF! Arff! Arff!

Man can cats run fast when they put their minds into it. The dog chased after them. I wasn't about to follow them so I sort of stood in the alley. I noticed that the dog was only chasing one cat, and it wasn't Dude.

"Hey, Dude?"

He was in a corner, still tormenting the rat.

I came closer.

The rat twitched it's noise and it's eyes were glazed in terror. My face twisted into something very similar to the rat's expression when I heard yelling. It was a horrible broken sound. And well, it wasn't a sound exactly.

Help! Please help! Oh-god. Don't let him get me! HELP!

Now we're getting somewhere. We have

a) A ship full of fugitives (The One's making)

b) _The Rachel_ in ruins and Rachel alive. (The Ellimist's making)

c) David is back into the picture. (Crayak here.)

d) An unknown element in the story I have yet to introduce. (The One)

See, now my title makes sense, this story really is a conclusion/continuation of the series. We get to see who wins, The One, The Ellimist or Crayak...people...start guessing.


	7. The Ellimist's Move

**A/N: **No brilliant notes at the moment so gives this section a pass...except for, when you read the first section remember that time is irrelevant, it doesn't mean it's happening now. You know how the Ellimist is, he could be in the present future or past, so when he's going over Rachel's death in the Bladeship it's not time related, he's just contemplating...

In this chapter you'll find out

a) What the Ellmist did.

b) How Rachel was thrown into this place

c) What happened to Jake

So start reading!!

*** *** ***

**F/F **(Feedback for yur Feedback):

~Jinako-Chan

Not really, Dude is the real Dude and it isn't Tobias in morph. And the dog was just a dog, David is a rat remember? And _Dude_ is tormenting him. Playing cat and mouse. I'm glad you like Sarah Brynes, *debates three guesses and gives up* she will be a big part in the story, I think. And yeah, she reminds me of Tobias too…in that twisted way. 

~JaD

Hmm, introducing Sarah Brynes wasn't a bad idea, I'm glad she sounds original. And yes, morphing will fix her –not that she'll get the morphing powers. As for Dude eating RatBoy David- NO WAY! *runs around in circles screaming protest* As for blah's reviews I'll do something about it when I get the time, I'm sharing the computer with someone else and I suppose you people will appreciate a new chapter as opposed to a non-repeat review page... 

~Angleofcloud9

Yeah, Dude would probably be ancient by now, but alive. As for Rachel and Tobias…time's a healer, (don't take this answer as a yes. Yoal could still have his way) And your thought about Tobias and Sarah Brynes…well, I can't give you a straight answer –it would ruin all suspense, and that's a major no-no for me. I LOVE surprising you people, its what makes me write fics. =) You see, I _could_ have Cassie running after Jake, but tell me, how many other fics had took that simple very boring route. So no, I probably wouldn't have her running for Jake. 

~Alikat 

*sobs* don't you people know me any better? I _don't_ write usual stories…and yeah, it was deep, surprisingly it was the easiest chapter I had to write. 

~Rachel9466

I'll keep writing and you keep getting more confused, k? we got the angles covered people!

*** *** ***

**BATTLE OF THE TITANS**

** The Ellimist's Move**

**Ellimist**

I watched until I could watch no more.

I stopped time.

I came to her.

She thought I had come to watch her final battle. She watched me with her cool blue human eyes.

"You." She said accusingly.

"Yes."

"Who are you?" She demanded of me, "Who are you to play games with us? You appear, you disappear, you use us, who are you, what are you?"

And then, for a long time, I stood silent, debating the matter, I made up my mind. Someone besides me and the higher powers should know. I told her. She saw. She understood.

She knew I would not save her, the warrior Rachel, she knew. She knew I couldn't under the arcane rules of my millennia-long war with Crayak.

She thought I was there to honor her, she thought I was being nice. She laughed, acknowledged that niceness wouldn't help her much.

She was so wise.

So brave.

A one of a kind warrior.

She longed to live. She wanted so much to stay. And then, she asked me, she wanted to know if she was something special, she wanted to know if she was good.

"Answer me this Ellimist: Did I…did I make a difference? My life, and my…my death…was I worth it? Did my life really matter?"

"Yes," I said with clarity, "You were brave. You were strong. You were good. You mattered."

"Yeah. Okay then. Okay, then."

Her brain started to wonder.

I watched as her timeline flickered out. I watched it dwindle and burn out.

But I wasn't sad. Rachel had seen only so little of my war. My war with Crayak would change.

It is no longer a war between to beings.

It is a three way war.

I had always feared this moment.

The One was so much stronger than us. Though he was evil, he would not allow Crayak to ally with him. And Crayak had an overloaded ego of himself. He would never allow himself to be seen as 'the side kick'.

But Rachel was wrong. She thought I wouldn't save her. To some extent she was right. I wouldn't save her when she was on the bladeship I wouldn't save her when Crayak was watching.

But nonetheless I saved her.

I could never part with my army. They were already missing one member. They were missing the Andalite. I would not allow my army to become smaller. They were my star chess pieces.

Before young Jake became the Yeerk Killer, even before he became Big Jake, I had already anticipated Rachel's death. I knew it would happen. I knew I had one chance to give Rachel back her life. And the way I took was perfectly within the rules. Jake had once opened a Sario Rip, and it was through that I witnessed Rachel's rebirth.

It would take her sometime to become The Rachel. Rachel The Animorph. But she had memories, memories of me talking to her, explaining the war.

That was not within the rules, I could not tell my army details about this war, they had to figure it out themselves. But there was nothing to say I couldn't tell them when they died.

Who knew that the memories would be reincarnated in a counterpart? Humans are unbelievable. They are even more unique than my adopted people, the Andalites. They are everything I would have wanted the Ketrans to become. Well…not everything, they were murderous, cold, ruthless and insane, but they were also kind, generous and they understood. They understood beauty.

I valued that.

And it was life, beauty and cultures that I try to preserve. Crayak wanted to destroy. And The One? The One wanted to own and use things.

Reincarnating Rachel was not enough. I had to reunite her with her friends. And I did that too.

It's all about manipulation of time and space.

I had done what Crayak and The One never expected. I had done the impossible.

I have brought Rachel back.

I have plans for Rachel. She would understand later. When the time comes. She would be the hero. She would be the person to stop this age old war.

Rachel and the other Animorphs. I had great faith in them.

*** *** ***

**Tobias**

My mind raced, she was Rachel but she wasn't. She insisted on being called Yoni, she said she didn't have a clue who I was, she said she had dreams, she said the dreams came from the stars.

_I came from the stars._

She said she had been here ever since she remembered, at that Yoal interrupted her, he said this was not true. What he said was interesting. It took us a while to get used to their talking. Rachel…Yoni spoke English but seemed to have forgotten how to structure her sentences, she spoke half English half something the humans on this island invented to speak with, trying to understand Yoal was even more difficult since he didn't speak English very well. But, with us being humans it was clear what the hand signals meant. So we understood them okay.

"She come from the stars. But not alone." Yoal nodded, "she comes with –six. Six others. Other five die. She lives. Tes saved her. She was going to drown. She fell from cliff. All others fall too. All die."

"You never told me that!" Yoni shoved Yoal hard, he giggled and shoved her back, half the time they'd do stuff like that, it meant nothing, but just the same I felt a fire of jealousy rip inside me, here was my dead girlfriend and a caveman was flirting around with her, and she wouldn't even touch me. Well, excluding the time she planned on having me for lunch.

"No." Yoal nodded his head, "Tes told me."

"When?"

"After you…" Yoal looked disturbed, "after you warned him, told him to go away. It was the day the thing attacked in the nest. Tes not like that at all –you saying no to him. But he let you be. He said you were different. You were sent from the stars. Then he said to me how he found you, he said; three others; all die; two boys. One girls. All like you. Except girl. Girl like us." Yoal pointed at his skin, "like night. Same."

I felt a shiver run down my spine.

"Tes also find strange bird. Strange bird was large. Had red tail. Then he found a monster. It was blue. It had green eyes. It was dead. Tes not touch him."

My heart froze and my blood ran cold. Marco and I were staring at each other. Marco said, "this time distortion crap reeks."

Yoal looked at Rachel, he licked his lips nervously, "when monster attack at nest…scared. Could not find you. I ran." He looked at the ground and a fat tear rolled down his cheek, but then he looked up and tried to smile, he touched Rachel's hair. I felt…I felt something stir inside me. "I went back in to look; no Yoni. I looked everywhere. No Yoni. I was sad."

Rachel smiled, and pointed at herself. "Yoni here!"

I couldn't believe this.

I felt the thermal I was riding on disappear, I flapped furiously on dead air. I didn't care I was straining my wings, I flapped harder than ever, what was I going to do? I couldn't escape this.

I was high up now, without realizing it I had drawn away from the others, I almost kicked myself, great, now Marco thinks I'm going to take a stand against the guy. I saw Marco talking to Jeanne –and for the first time his silly smirk was off his face- he nodded towards me, Jeanne looked up at me worry in her eyes.

Menderash who was with us turned to Marco, as I went back to them I heard his words; he already had it figured. "do you know what this means?" it was a statement not a question.

"Rachel wasn't the only one sent to this place." Marco sighed, "Jake, Tobias, Cassie, Ax and me too. But they –we all died except Rachel here. I don't get it." He sounded frustrated, "hey. If I'm dead why am I standing here?"

"Maybe you are." Jeanne mumbled, we were standing outside the ship. Jeanne was sitting beside Stantorelli –who looked like he seriously wasn't going to live much longer- I landed on the ground.

"The computers are running at forty percent." Menderash said, "I have done some calculations and what I have found confirmed my doubts; We're on Earth. I do not know how we came here. But it is not in the past. Time is distorted, it is as if we have been placed in a different universe. A different world. Time vibrates differently here. I do not know what this means."

"What about Jake?" Marco said, his eyes dark, "how come we never found him?"

"You have more?" Yoal asked, "other person?"

"Yes," Jeanne said, looking away from Stantorelli. "A boy. Large, white…er...like us."

Yoni looked at Yoal. "You have seen him?"

"This boy, important?" Yoal said thoughtfully.

"Yes," Jeanne answered, "we need him…he is our leader."

Again, Rachel repeated her question, it was weird, I mean, she looked like Rachel and acted like her physically but…she wasn't exactly Rachel, she didn't remember me. "Yoal, you see him?"

We all tensed, expecting an answer.

"No." Yoal said thoughtfully, "but if boy means much to you; we go to Tes. Tes knows all."

Rachel…no…Yoni nodded, "Yes. Tes knows all."

We looked at each other.

Marco cleared his voice. "Tes?"

"Yes, Tes, like your boy. He is…head of clan…leader. Important person." Yoal nodded his head, "Tes is also my father's father. If he was not he would not answer half my questions." Yoal grinned, and made a shooing motion with his hands, "Tes would chase me away."

Marco stared.

I don't think he'd be any more intelligent than cave boy here. I said dryly.

Marco looked at me, "You think?"

I started to preen my feathers, this is a waste of time, I say we send a scout to look for Jake. Running around the forest for another of his kind is like sending ourselves to beat around the bush.

Rachel heard me. She looked at me and said, "no, you come with us. Tes knows."

I'm sure he does. I muttered.

Rachel ran up to Menderash, touched his arm, "Ash, you come?"

We all looked at Menderash questionably –in my case, I was glaring my usual glare- he shrugged, "she thinks 'Ash' is my name."

"Well," Marco started, "_Ash_-"

Jeanne frowning. Interrupted Marco. "Is that my underwear she's wearing?"

Menderash nodded, "I gave it to her. Sorry."

"It's okay, I have more, but, why?"

Menderash shrugged, "she said she lost her clothes."

"And you just _gave _her Jeannes clothes?" Marco exclaimed, "why couldn't you wait for me to solve this…er…crisis."

I edged away from Marco and he snickered.

Suddenly business like, Marco clapped his hands, "okay, here's what we do. Menderash and Jeanne stay here. Jeanne you watch over Stantorelli and keep a watch out for Menderash. Menderash you find out what you can about this place and see if you could fix our ship. Tobias and I are going to see what this Tes guy has on our boy Jake. And…any questions?"

Menderash stared at Marco like he was shocked and Jeanne pointed a slim finger at Marco, she said to Menderash, "this is the _first_ time I ever saw him acting seriously."

Menderash nodded slowly.

Marco grinned, "when I come back I've got a few things to say to you."

Jeanne turned away muttering to herself.

Marco turned to Yoal, "okay, take me to your leader." He winced when he said that then winked at me, "not exactly Jake, huh?"

Nope. I said, much as I like your company Marco, I think I'll be happy once Jake's here again.

Marco rolled his eyes, "you know, back on Earth, the _whole_ world loved me."

That's because the whole world hadn't spent a night trapped on an island with you. If they did they'd run to the moon.

"Ouch."

Yoal slapped his thigh, "okay, we go now?"

Marco nodded and we were off.

But not before I morphed to human, I was going to make sure Yoal stayed a distance away from Rachel.

Very sure.

*** *** ***

** Tobias**

"Okay," Rachel whispered. "We're at the main nest."

For the most part of the journey Yoal had kept to himself, it was Marco who got on my nerves.

It was cool when I morphed, I guess Rachel identified with me after that.

What she said was, "My hair like yours."

Okay, so it was a very vague way to identify with me.

Anyway, we approached a cage like structure that looked pretty big. Yoal stood by one of the numerous entrances and called his grandfather.

Other members of the clan watched us suspiciously, the heavily built human who approached us looked at us wearily, he wasn't black, his skin was bronze. Like Yoal. And now that he was closer, he looked even bigger.

Yoal talked to Tes in caveman language, Rachel listen intently and translated.

"Tes say he see one boy. But not here."

"What?" Marco snapped, "What does that mean?"

"Tes say he saw boy…he say he would have brought home, but no good."

"What? What? I don't understand."

"Tes say, boy no more. Boy with dark hair, large, different. Like me. Tes say boy die."

My heart stopped beating, I hadn't expected this.

"What?" Marco croaked.

"Tes say he found boy by the lagoon." Yoal said, he looked at Marco strangely, "Tes say when he got to him, boy all stiff. Dead."

Marco and I looked at each other. All I could think was _no way, no way_.

You see, not that I'd ever admit it –especially these days- but I always believed that Jake was invincible.

And now, he was dead.

But Rachel was alive.

What did it mean?

"Can he take me there?" Marco asked urgently, "Ask him, tell him it's important."

Yoal asked Tes. Tes nodded his head and beckoned us.

Yoal ran ahead, he turned his head around and shouted, "Tes say come, place not far away." 

*evil laughter and snickers* feel my wrath! Fear my power! Not that i have to remind you -but i will, just for the record- nothing, and I mean NOTHING, is absolute.

*yawns* it's three in the morning and I have to go to sleep. When I wake up I'm gonna see a lot of reviews. If i don't I'll go into hibernation and I'll forget this story. It's the summer holidays people, I'm FREEEEEEE -right until i get my examination results. When I do, I'm just a poor, trapped kid in a very small room. :-(


	8. Death

**A/N: **Okay, I'm sorta in a hurry –aren't I always?- so I'll do this quickly –meaning I'll only give answers to actual questions in this one paragraph…I hope it will fit…lets see… 

I've got you guys scrambling over Jake *grins*. Whether Jake lives or dies depends on uh, my imagination and my plot line. I've got plenty of imagination and a thick plot…you people keep underestimating me, lets jut say this incident with _The Rachel_ is nothing more than a simple incident of random chance –Axese for freak accident- and Tobias and Yoal _are_ going to throw down in the near future. As for not-so-severe conflict between the two; Tobias tries to get rid of Yoal (I'm not saying how, you'll find out in the NEXT chapter). As for their being in another dimension; yes, they are. Just think of it of as an alternate universe the Ellmist put aside as back up for his star chess pieces…it would be the same universe as the one Esplin, Elfangor and Loren made so long ago…

Just as a note: I AM currently working on a sequel to my SXK series (people are goanna be happy about that) and I AM working on finishing The Third Brother…just give me time… 

Oh, before i forget, the first part is written in third person format (I'm sorry but it just wouldn't sound right in first person) then, there's the dream Stantorelli dreams....I put that in so I could build up his personality and character, oh, by the way, I think Stantorelli is blond. If you think otherwise you could confer with the walls...I really don't care.

Okay, if you skipped reading all the above, **READ THIS **the last part of this chapter wouldn't make sense:

At the last part of this chapter I went back to the Kelbrids fugitives from chapter one -remember them? If you forgot what they were doing I'll remind you; they had just witnessed _The Rachel_ ram the bladeship. Then there was a flash of light and a battle where _The Rachel_ became charred toast. Mysteriously, the Blade Ship decided to leave when _Hathy_ (The Kelbrid's ship) arrived on seen leaving _The Rachel _half dead.

I'll tell you another thing otherwise you'll be completely lost (we wouldn't want that, would we?) remember when Ax talked to Jake about the _Sario Rip_ way back in #11, The Forgotten, remember how he told him that the only reason he _came back_ was because he was the only one who _died_? And that the two of Jake would both die if one of them didn't seize to exist? Well, the same thing happened here. When the freak accident happened- hurling _The Rachel_ to that alternate weird universe were Yoni existed- the crew and the ship were duplicated. So, there are now two ships called _The Rachel. _One of them is in the borders of Kelbrid space and the other on Yoni's little island. 

Don't worry if you don't get this, you'll understand all this later. but i thought I'd warn/tell you before everyone gets lost.

*** *** ***

**BATTLE OF THE TITANS**

** Death**

_(Third person narration) _

"Menderash!" Jeanne shouted, she pushed herself off the ground then sat abruptly, she shouted again.

His head appeared out of the hole in the hull, he struggled out and skidded off the ship, he trotted towards the girl.

Menderash looked down at the other man; he was gasping like every breath was his last one. When Jeanne felt Menderash's shadow fall on her, she turned to him, "can't we do anything? He's hurting real bad, and he's cold. I-"

Menderash crouched down and gently took Stantorelli's hand. He turn to Jeanne, "I'm sorry, we've done all we could do, I don't think he'll live much longer."

"But he's in pain." Jeanne looked bewildered, she had never seen anyone die before. She'd seen dead bodies. But no one had died in front of her.

"Would you prefer it if I ended his pain?"

"What?" Jeanne looked confused, "What are you suggesting? That we…we kill him?"

Menderash nodded, "it would be a decent thing to do. There is no point leaving him like this."

"I don't know." Jeanne mumbled, her face pale, "isn't there any way…"

"No." Menderash said firmly. "There is no other way."

Jeanne looked helplessly around as Menderash left her to decide. "I'm in the ship if you need me."

Jeanne looked down at Stantorelli and a few tears tumbled off her chin. She only knew Stantorelli as a colleague but their little team has always been close knitted, so she knew him well enough to feel saddened by his state.

Even if she didn't know him she'd have still been a little bit sorry, she never like to see people die, least of all friends…but this…to order the end of a comrade's death was way beyond her. She decided to wait a little bit more.

The longer she stayed by Stantorelli the more she became distressed, it was clear he was suffering, he hadn't uttered a comprehensible word ever since they landed. Jeanne bit her lip and nervously clicked her tongue. She looked down at Stantorelli, he was shivering a bit and his head was drenched with sweat. He was mumbling something about how near he was and how his 'Little Buddy' should hang on. Stantorelli's eyes flickered beneath his eyelids and he groaned. Jeanne stood up, undecided. She paced. It seemed wrong to leave him like that.

Finally making up her mind, she reached down to stroke his head and then headed towards _The Rachel_. 

*** *** ***

**Stantorelli**

Stantorelli was dreaming. He remembered how no one called him by his first name, he remembered that people only called him 'Stan' or 'Stantorelli' he had been the big brother. He had a kid brother named Josh, and Josh idolized Stantorelli. He tried to smile at the memory but he couldn't. Why? Because he was remembering. And it was hard to stop after the name 'Josh' came to his mind, he was reminded of the little scrawny kid with messy brown hair that just wouldn't leave his eyes at peace. Stantorelli had always teased his brother about the mop of hair that fell over his eyes. But Josh didn't mind the teasing. He'd leave his hair the way it was to spite him.

Gosh that little kid got me somewhere._ Stantorelli thought dreamily, he remembered that he only reached his high ranks by burying himself with back breaking work. And why wouldn't he -Josh was dead and he wouldn't see him no more. _

_ He remembered when he was just a low ranking soldier, he and his brother where together, same task force. And then there was this battle, everyone got separated. Stantorelli never found his brother in time. Well, he remembered it very well, it was hardly something he could have forgotten…standing there in the wilderness, his heart pumping like a drill, and then the feeling, that vague feeling that his world was going to be ripped apart…with his high fever the memories rushed in, and he felt himself running in the forest…running wishing it weren't too late…_

My heart thundered as I bet my record at racing towards the clearing, the trees flashed by in surprising serenity, if I had time to stop and take in the scenery I would have seen that it was a beautiful day. But I didn't have time, I raced as fast as I could, nothing mattered now but reaching the place…I knew subconsciously where I was going and why, but presently my brain was a blank void. I couldn't think, I could barely see…

I picked up my pace as the lake flashed by, I didn't even feel tired, but I was starting to feel my heart tiring, it was beating in irregular sickening thuds -that made me slow down a little. I reached the fork in the forest path, left? Right? I didn't know, my heart thumped at the back of my throat, I felt like the blood rush into my brain would blow my skull clear off. I felt hyped, agitated; everything was going wrong. I was running out of time. I needed help. I needed help bad.

"_Stan! Stan! Oh –GOD, Staaaaaaan!_"

I bolted instantly, I ignored the path and ran on forest floor, my shoulder hit a branch and I spun wildly out of control. I fell and struggled up to my feet.

"HELP! Oh-god help!" The voice sobbed as I hit the clearing, no, no, this wasn't right, no, it couldn't be, oh no, not this, anything but this!

"Josh!" I screamed as I broke out of the forest line, "JOSH!"

"STAN!" Josh screamed hysterically, "Stan help! I can't see! Stan –the chlorine- I," Josh tugged blindly on what stopped him form escaping. My heart stopped beating, no, no.

Josh was tangled in barbed wire, his arms were a bloody mess, he stared blindly around, crying and shouting my name, _help, help! HELP!_

But that wasn't what stopped my heart, as if in slow motion I caught him, a man dressed in dark green, nothing like my army uniform. He had a black cap on his head, a thin moustache on his face, beady black eyes, he grinned.

"NNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!" I screamed, I was unarmed, but I ran anyway, I ran towards Josh, hoping, hoping against hope that I would be able to reach him before the metal slugs did.

"JOOOOOAAASHWAAAA!" I howled as the soldier brought out a machine gun and then…

BAMBAMBAMBABAMBAMBAMBAMBAM!

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The word tore out of my throat as I lurched forward and tried to grab Josh, I held him, no, this isn't true. It couldn't be.

Josh jerked in my arms, blood gushed out of his mouth, he was shaking all over, I looked down at the damage, _no, no, it couldn't go this way, no._ "You'll be fine," I cried, "You'll be fine, just hang in their little buddy…"

Josh gasped, "I'm goanna die, oh, god, I'm goanna die. No. I'm…it's too-Stan! Don't leave me man, don't leave me!"

"I'm here, I'm not going," I said tearfully, "I'm not leaving you, you'll come through."

I started freeing him, it wasn't easy but I did it fast enough, he hit the ground and more blood came out of his mouth, from his mouth, back, stomach, everywhere, boy, bodies had a lot of blood in them, I felt sick, I knelt down beside Josh and gently brushed the lock of hair off his eyes. "Hey," I said softly, "hey, it's going to be okay, Josh." 

Josh grabbed my hand, his face was so pale, a thin shaky smile formed and was lost just as quickly, he was crying, but not for himself this time, "I'm so sorry Stan, I'm sorry…I should have listened…"

"Josh…" I said in agony, "oh god don't die on me." I tried to stop the bleeding but I only had two hands, and two hands weren't enough to save him, it just wasn't enough.

"Yeah, me too." Josh's tears ran all over his face, he grabbed my arm, and tried to lift himself painfully, his hair fell all over his eyes; his dark eyes, filled with tears and pain, for me, for himself. "I love you brother, don't be sorry."

And with a shuddering breath little Josh ceased to exist.

Trembling, I lowered his body gently down. I brushed the hair instinctively out of his dead eyes and off his forehead, like I've done thousands of times before. Tears blurred my vision as it occurred to me this was to be my last time. "never could keep that hair off your eyes little buddy, couldn't you…" my voice broke painfully.

I ran my hands over his eyes to close them. Knowing I'd never see them greeting me in the morning ever again…

*** *** ***

**Marco**

Tobias flew overhead as I marched mechanically towards our wreck. Jake was dead? How could this be? Who the hell was going to lead us now? I knew it had to be me, but jeez, Jake was better at bossing people around than I ever was, and my job had always been to be the team's paranoid freak. Could I take this on and get us out alive? I didn't know.

Not my specialty. I thought bitterly. I wondered briefly what I was going to tell Cassie and Jake's parents, and what I was going to tell the entire world. I didn't know what Tobias thought about this, I mean, Rachel was back but she wasn't. She still thought I'm creepy and she ignored me mostly.

But she ignored Tobias too, she seemed to like that Yoal guy. I guessed he was her friend or something, I stole a glance at them, they were walking side by side whispering to each other. I looked up and noted how high Tobias was flying.

This was so not good.

With Jake dead I guess I'm going to have to stop complaining, and I had to keep us –this little mismatched group of lunatics- together.

A shot rang out high and clear from the direction of our wreck, I shot a look at Tobias but no reaction there. I guessed he was far too high to hear it.

I ran quickly towards what was left of _The Rachel_ and Tobias swooped in low. Rachel and Yoal followed us not really knowing what else to do.

I tore towards Jeanne and Menderash. Jeanne looked like she was crying and Menderash looked grave.

When I saw what they did I really thought I would lose my mind. This just kept getting better and better, now we were short two people.

I stared at Stantorelli, I knew he wasn't moving, couldn't be moving. Menderash must have shot him.

"Better this way, huh?" I said finally. My voice flat in the air.

Menderah and Jeanne didn't say anything to me, but Jeanne surprised me by walking over to me and burring her head into my shoulder, "I really thought he'd live."

I gently took her off my shoulder, I looked at her then at Menderash who was going back to the ship. "Wait!" I called out.

Menderash stopped and came back, Tobias came in low.

"Did you find Jake?" Jeanne asked hopefully.

Menderash listened to my answer careful.

"That would be the good news." I said, my voice not quite steady, "the bad news would be he's dead." 

Jeanne looked at me stone faced. Like this was too much for her, "the professor?"

If Jake was alive I would have made a witty joke about it, but I couldn't, I felt my throat tighten. "Look, we're down two people, we don't know where we are and what sort of mess we are in. We have to keep it together, figure out what to do. Menderash, any luck finding out what's going on here?"

"It didn't need luck." Menderash muttered but then stopped himself, he said, "yes, I have found out that we were drawn into a Sarrio Rip. It's-"

"I know what that is. I've spent an entire hour in 'Jurassic Park' listening to Ax try explaining it to me." I interrupted, "try telling me if we could get out of this mess or not."

"Yes." Menderash answered looking at me strangely, "I have found a way, but my timing must be perfect. I would need to assimilate an….explosion. It doesn't have to be big because the rip is already closing. The problem here is whether I could fix _The Rachel_ in time."

"Okay, Menderash," I said, "why don't you go do that?"

"I wasn't going to wait long." He mumbled beneath his breath.

I sighed, dealing with him would be a little bit tricky. I wished we'd brought Cassie along.

Speaking of Cassie, I wondered ever so briefly what she was doing. Part of me envied her for staying behind. The other part of me was glad I came along, at least I had my time with Jake…

*** *** ***

_Third person narration_

**Aboard the kind ship Hathy....**

"I knew it!" Ankarr screeched, "I knew it! What sort of help is that? If that other ship didn't go then we'll have been fried-"

"Pilot, what's the status of the other ship?" Commander Chlab interrupted.

"Not good. The ship appears dead in space and it's crew will not survive much longer –a hole had been blown through it's bridge."

"Okay." Commander Chlab said. "Wiab, Doi-Yung, launch transport pods and head for that ship. See if you could get them out alive."

Doi-Yung a commener accused of theft and Wiab a fake Kelbrid general, followed Chlab's commanded and headed for the docking bays. Mean while, Pilot added more bad news to the list of growing dangers.

"Commander Chlab! We have four Stalkers coming our way!"

"Let's leave!" Ankarr squealed, "do you know what they'll do to us?! Do you?!"

"Pilot, who's in command of the Stalkers?"

"Bad news, sir; Nehrab warriors!" 

"Oh, this is too much!" Ankarr wailed. He knew what Nehrab was capable of, and what they would do if they took hold of them. It came to him too clearly, he knew it too well because not long ago, he had been amongst the top rulers of Nehrab, the budding flower of Kelbrid society, all orders originated from there.

"Shut up you old fool." Vynily growled, "why don't you go and do something useful?"

"The pods!" Ankarr gasped, galloping towards the docking bay, "I'm going to leave this place!"

"No!" Commander Chlab shouted, "stay here!"

Ankarr groaned and doubled over.

"Waib? Doi-Yung? Did you find anything?" Commander asked calmly watching the old Kelbrid wearily; it wouldn't have surprised him if Ankarr abandoned them...it wouldn't be very wise either, the pods they had could not outrun even a broken down Stalker. Let alone a fully operational one.

"Yes, commander, I have found the aliens that live on this ship and my, very strange they-"

"Are they alive?" Chalb snapped.

"Not all of them, only two are alive."

"Get them out of there fast. Waib, anything we could salvage?"

"No. The weapons are beyond repair…perhaps their supplies -maybe I'll find something useful there."

"Quickly," Chlab said, then, "Pilot? How much longer?"

"One minute for intercept!"

"We need a payer!" Ankarr moaned.

Vynily tensed. He closed his eyes.

"Wiab?"

Wiab's furious voice came out of the communicator. "Just food! Nothing more! Clothing and food and medical supplies-"

"Then get out of there!" Commander yelled, "Dio-Yung, are you done yet?"

"Almost…almost…"

"Forty-five…forty-four…forty-three…" Pilot was counting in the back ground.

"Come on!" Chalb yelled.

Vynily crossed his hands and raised them to his head, he was chanting something softly.

Pilot's voice went on counting. "Thirty-eight…thirty-seven…thirty-six…"

On screen they could see the Stalkers, they were small lean ships, and four were enough to blast them apart.

"I'm docked!" Waib yelled, "Dio-Yung, get yourself in here! Forget those blasted aliens!"

"No!" Chlab shouted, "they're from the Andalite side, maybe we could learn something!"

"Twenty-three…twenty-two…twenty-one…"

"Alright then," Waib said, "get the aliens and GET YOURSELF IN THE DOCKING BAY NOW!"

"Forget them, forget them!" Ankarr shrieked in panic. "We're more important! Without us there is no _them!_"

"Commander Chlab please chuck Ankarr out of the airlocks."

"Twelve…ten…eight…"

"As much as I violently wish Ankarr harm, I don't think we have time." Chlab replied tightly.

"I'm almost there!" Doi-Yung screamed, "the Stalkers are within firing range…arrrrrgghhh! I'm hit! I'm hit!"

That tightened a few throats.

"Okay, I'm in! I'm in! I'm in!"

A Stalker turned and made for the bridge.

"Pilot, you heard him!" Chalb barked, "what do you need -an invitation?!"

"I don't think that is necessary," Pilot said tightly, "accelerating to Z-space in five seconds…"

They all counted privately.

The Stalker loomed closer.

"Three…Two.." 

A bright beam of light…

"One…"

Then…

Silence.

I'm not commenting, it's really not worth it. But if you feel the slightest bit confused you could ask me to explain...


	9. The Whiners and The Boomers

**A/N: ** Sorry I took so long, but as you'll notice this chapter is _longer_ than all the other ones I wrote. As for clearing up the confusion, I guess it's time I told you the story –in case you have been skimming through my fic as opposed to reading it *glares* 

Okay. Here's the deal. When _The Rachel_ rammed the blade ship, somehow, accidentally, they went through a Sario Rip (I'm not all that good with technical explanations, if you have eight ours to spare go ask Menderash) the Sario rip transported a duplication of _The Rachel_ –along with all the crew- to that alternate universe where the Ellimist had placed Rachel/Yoni in.

Therefore. We have a Jake, Marco, Menderash, Jeanne, Tobias and Stantorelli in the alternate universe with Yoni and Cave Boy Yoal. And we have a Jake, Marco, Menderash, Jeanne, Tobias and Stantorelli in the normal universe where Hathy (the ship full of Kelbrid fugitives picked up the survivors after _The Rachel's_ run in with the Blade ship.)

We already know –'cause I told you in the story- that there are only _two_ survivors from _The Rachel_ in the normal universe. So, now the Kelbrids have two crew members from the Rachel –I still haven't mentioned any names. AND. In the alternate universe, Marco found Jake dead and Menderash ended Stantorelli's life to put a stop to his suffering.

Comprehend?

My explanation for Rachel living as Yoni the cave woman is that way back, back in about the 11th book in the series, (when Jake first opened the Sario Rip) the Ellimist manually duplicated the animoprhs and sent them to this alternate universe. Only _Rachel_ survived to become the Yoni we know now.

Phew. That was long.

As for this chapter I'm starting to introduce the fourth unknown element –this unknown element is going to be linked to Ax, I didn't forget all about him. It also gives you some background on who The One' army is and the situation there.

And like I said in the summery; Sarah Brynes chit chats with Rat Boy David.

**BATTLE OF THE TITANS**

**The Whiners and the Boomers**

**On a planet far away… **

** ….a sad story continues, waiting…. **

**…for it all to end… **

_Underground mine Corf. _

_Property of Nehrab _

_Chamber H4-087_

Elf-like creatures scrambled over the rocks and avoided the sharp _tundian_ that grew bellow-soil. The tunnels only allowed for one of the busy creatures to pass at a time so they joined line and filed one after another into the tunnels, each creature held an axe-like tool slung over their shoulders; they marched across soft soil, for a while all was silent save for the occasional clink of metal or the soft rustle of their leathery soles against the earth.

Then a soft quavering whine sounded, and the pace picked up and several more creatures joined, they walked now with rhythm and the steady rustling of their soles against the dirt accompanied with those occasional clinks of metal created a beat that matched the unsteady whine.

The whine grew louder and softer, until suddenly, the quavering of their chords revealed that they were not emitting a senseless chain of incoherent chirps but a choice of words strung together to form a chant that rose and fell with all the quivering voices.

"Weeee-EE are-aaah! Weeee-EE are-aaah!

Weeee-EE are-aaah! The Follow-ers!

Heeee EEee-is! Heeee EEee-is!

Heeee EEee-is! The One!"

The creatures shuffled their feet and then moved faster, their long fingers had the natural look of gnarred bark –winkled, worn and old. None of them were colorful, the yellow lamp held by the lead creature revealed that they were all drab. All of them were colored brown but some were a little greener than others and some were yellowier. Their heads were covered with loose skin that could have been tugged quite a way from the bone, and their ears were long and pointed but the point dropped to the side giving them a comical appearance.

They were not at all large or tall, in fact they were quite delicate looking and frail. Their fingers were slender and their gait graceful. They had two arms. Two legs. A rabbit like tail and three blunted horns on their heads.

The lead creature had three very sharp very long looking horns.

But these horns did not make it or the rest of his kind any more ugly. What made them a horrific sight to the eye was the contours of their faces –the loose bags of skin- and the fact that they had no eyes and no mouth. Well, there was evidence that at one point of their lives these creatures did possess eyes, and, yes, a mouth -edged with thin green lips, but that must have been long ago, because these creatures were not capable of opening their eyes. Each eyelid was sewed closed with thick black lace and their mouths too were sewed with the same thick black lace but the difference was that they could open their mouths a fraction, enough to allow them to eat, and mumble a few words.

The lead creature and all of who followed him could not see, but just the same they needed the light like any sight-full person needed it. The real difference between the lead creature and the rest of his group –besides the horns- was that his voice was deeper and far more musical. The others whined their soft quivering hums while the lead creature's voice boomed and echoed across the tunnels. The leader took over the song and his friends whined softly in the background. The deep booming of his voice reverberated and bounced off the walls, he spoke about a fact, an-aged rule that possessed them all. 

"When one is alone we are nothing. 

When two join we're more.

But together, we make up the followers

And together we serve the One.

When we look-up it's sky

We look down it's soil

But we find our home in darkness.

And darkness is joy!"

The creatures moved even faster, it was amazing how their little feet and unbalanced bodies could be faster than a eight-legged person but they were. These creatures were strange, they were visually ugly, their skin was not soft and they had no fur nor wings, their faces were horrific and disfigured, they were racing inside a filthy tunnel, amidst dirt and filth and the remains of flesh yet their voice were rich and pure. The strange creatures sung their chorus again, as if reinforcing a belief that had been deep routed inside their brains, something that was as sacred and as ancient as the tunnels themselves.

"Weeee-EE are-aaah! Weeee-EE are-aaah!

Weeee-EE are-aaah! The Followers!

Heeee EEee-is! Heeee EEee-is!

Heeee EEee-is! The One!"

This time it was said in mournful tones, this sacred belief, this faith that had been feed into them since birth saddened them some. Every creature of their likes had to serve this principle, the words were not really humble or metaphorical. It proved a hard reality, a harshness of life, what it really showed was not a modest belief, it only displayed the oldest most ancient rule of the universe. This rule was not like this belief, this rule cherished not the weak but the strong, it ensured the survival of the fittest and trampled and licked up the remains of the weak.

The deep voice boomed as before, unaffected by the change of tone from the others. 

"It's he who gives us light

It's he who lets us live.

It's he who built our armies.

And without him we're

no one at all!"

The last four words were said harshly, as if the owner of the booming voice wished to turn and smack the others, but there was no time to slow down and look back, there was only time to race ahead and run and there was this urgency that struck them all, an urgency that bolted out most thoughts, but the whiners continued, their voices rose and became higher pitched as they moved insanely fast, as their feet padded softly but in a furious haste unmatched by any other living creature. If any one of them were to touch the twigs and dirt that hung around them they would have most certainly been deprived of that limb. The whiner's voices rose and became more grated and pitched until they reached an emotional climax, bleating out a high frequency scream.

"Weeee-EE are-aaah! Weeee-EE are-aaah!

Weeee-EE are-aaah! The Followers!

Heeee EEee-is! Heeee EEee-is!

Heeee EEee-is! The One!"

The voices screamed and echoed in a tone which would have made any deaf creature's ears bleed. It was not just the highness of the pitch but the bitterness and hatred that fueled them to shuffle their feet in that unbelievably fast pace.

Again, the booming voice answered the whiners pleas and reminded them of their parentage. They were forced and harsh and the words went by unchallenged.

"The One who brought us here

The One who loved us all

The One who swore protection

for all!"

The boomer's last words were snarls, and in the confusion of the speed run and the whiners that lapped behind, it appeared that the boomer was chased by all the whining voices and the hundreds of feet that shuffled behind him, was the boomer leading or just running away?

The whiners' voices lost frequency, their voices went sweet as the boomer's words sunk deep into their brains. Gradually, the speed decreased and the whines cease.

The Boomer stopped running and gracefully lead the Whiners to a stop.

They were now at the main chamber. The work of today is to be done here.

Whiners, step to your places and _work_.

*** *** *** 

_Underground mine Corf. _

_Property of Nehrab _

_Chamber H4-086_

Flashes of light and color.

Bodies moving under the flickering lights…many, many bodies. The flashes of light would pinpoint them far but after a moment of darkness a flash of light revealed that they had come much closer.

The little graceful creatures leapt nimbly into battle, they slung their axes and swiped at the enemy. Some would succeed and behead a victim while others blew up in smoke.

The shuffling bodies shifted like a sea and the waves crashed down on the opposing few. Axes buried deep into flesh and jammed between bones, beams of red light lanced in the darkness and the graceful bodies who murdered with metal axes disappeared in a puff of vapor.

There were screams of terror and agony, cries of sorrow and pain. But in the opposition notes of disappear were torn out of their lungs and flung at the faces of the disfigured creatures who murdered in a fevered pace.

The agonized screams that came from the opposition were met with the unanimous grated scream of the whiners, they were on roll now, the rhythm was high, the beating was rapid and they matched to that beat, they blocked thoughts and swung their axes up and over, up and over, sideways and down.

Nearly crippled, the opposition knew that running would not save them, fighting would produce a much favorable outcome. But mind you they did not think that because of their nobility –because at that moment they lacked it- but they rationalized in that such way because running would kill them, only fighting would save them. But that was not true. They were outnumbered insanely, they could not win. Each and every one of them knew they were defeated and accepted their fait, instead they renewed their strength and attacked back in fury, struggling to rationalize their defeat and struggling to express their rage at their defeat. They were warriors, grand and noble and defeat was not something they made themselves familiar with.

_Ghat to you all! _Raged the largest, he aimed his beam and sprayed those that where nearest to him, a score of whiners vaporized, but new ones took up their places and overwhelmed the owner of the light beam; seven axes found his body and cut him to pieces.

_Cham! _Another screamed in disappear, _cham! Cham! Cham! I'll kill you all!!_

His screams of despair mutated to agony as a second wave of Whiners descended on to him and sealed his fate with quick jabs of their axes.

_This is for Ghorr! _The last howled _remember that when you collect your dead! This is for GHORR! This is for Dyan and all Kelbrids! _As one of the axes hit him in a crucial point in Kelbrid anatomy, he fell mute and lame to the ground, his body landed in a dull thud were his glazed eyes met the sightless gaze of his dead brothers.

_We gallant warriors! _The being gasped, his eyes fluttered and he shifted painfully, _we know what we want! The likes of you are pitiful, you must return to your homes and never show your faces until you know! _

The screams were so high now that the dead bodies of those who died trembled in shock, the fallen warrior gasped and continued, he spoke with a sob, _you are not us! You do not resemble us! You do not think or act like us! But time had finally proved your worth and revealed the blue prints that link you vile creatures to us! Curse those who say your minds are pure and untouched, cursed those who wish to liberate the Whiners!_

The eyes were sealed and so were the mouths, there was only so much a blind mute creature could see and comprehend -so thought the Boomer whose voice shook the Whiners from their trance and commanded them to clean the mess.

If only the Whiners' eyes were open and their beautiful eyes could see once again…if only the seals on those delicate lips would cease…and if only the loose bags of skin would drop and melt away…why, these creatures were ugly only skin deep. Beneath that skin was a real heart and underneath their skulls was a brain that understood.

Unlike the _Kelbrid_ who's minds were hard and hearts made of stone.

Looks only go so far.

The Boomer's voice rang high and once again, the Whiners assembled, their numbers were cut but this did not seem to effect them.

_They could not see_, thought the Boomer, _they could not talk to question_, the Boomer rationalized.

But what he did not comprehend was that they had ears. They had ears and their brains thought without aid of another.

And they had hearts that cried in pain.

*** *** ***

**Sarah Brynes**

Tears crawled down my face when the rat sobbed his tale to me, it was awful. When he finished I wiped my tears with the heal of my hand, "boy, and I thought my life was terrible."

The rat didn't comment on this, his nose twitched miserably.

"You know," I said quietly, "what the animorphs did to you was way out of line."

The rat's head jerked, how did you know that this was what they called themselves? I didn't tell you!

"Oh, well." I said a little bit confused, "everyone knows who the animorphs are."

Huh?

"Really."

The rat jumped off my lap. He stared at me with his beady eyes, what is a Yeerk?

"It's a…a parasite. An alien. They tried to take over the world."

No. he whispered. you couldn't know…unless…

"What's wrong with you?" I asked, "don't you know what's happening to the world?"

What's happening?

"We're trading with the Andalites, they're a weird bunch. They're trading technology for food, could you _believe_ that?" 

What? he snapped.

"And the Yeerks are gone. They're history."

What? he repeated, I don't understand.

I shrugged, "we won."

_What?!_

"Why do you sound so surprised?" I asked, "I thought you use to fight with those guys?"

Fight with them? He shrieked, Fight?! Look at what they _did_ to me. _Look_ at me! Look! I'm human! I'm human! I'm not a rat!

After that he sort of lost it. It should have disturbed me but I was use to seeing people go nuts. Okay, so I wasn't use to seeing a rat go nuts but inside he's a person.

He ran in circles like he was chasing his tail, I'm human! I'm human! My name is David. I have a snake called Megadeth and a cat called Spawn. No. I mean my snake is Spawn and my cat is called Megadeth. I'm human, I'm David. I almost won! I live in California, my mother is a bank manager and my dad's a spy!

I grabbed him and held him in my hand, "hey knock it off. Please. You're not doing yourself any good that way."

He calmed down. But it didn't last for long.

They're alive then! Ah-hah! I'll kill them, I'll kill them all! I swear I'll humiliate them publicly. I'll torture them. I'll eat them alive. Trapped me as a RAT! I'll KILL them! he wailed angrily in my head, I'll show them, I'll show them. I'll show them all. Take me to them!

"What?" I snapped out of my trance.

Take me to them! he screamed, I want to see them now!

"That's going to be a bit difficult." I muttered, "the entire world wants to meet them."

Just take me there. I know how to get in. Take me there!

"Okay…David." I said, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. "Which animorph would you like to see first?"

His nose twitched, Rachel! I want to see Rachel!

I hesitated.

He was angry.

He was mad.

He was a human trapped in a rat, and he wanted to meet Rachel.

I looked down at the thing that squirmed in my hand. He was still fuming. I sighed, put him in my pocket and started to walk to the bus stop, the cemetery wouldn't be that hard to get into.

Let him find out for himself.

*** *** *** 

_(Third person)_

**Aboard Hathy**

"My, my, my…what have we here?" Vynily mused to himself, he was completely ignoring Doi-Yung who looked devastated at the pod's state. "Big, aren't they?"

"My pod!" Doi-Yung wailed, "It's in ruins!"

"Very spectacular, they almost look like a larger version of Kelbrids -only they're uglier."

"What?" Doi-Yung looked up from the pod. "What?"

"They're ugly."

"Excuse me, Vynily, is that the only thing you noticed?" Doi-Yung pushed himself away from the pod. At least it wasn't his personal ship or anything. Now that would have been a _real_ waste. But really, to Doi-Yung any wreckage is a waste. "Look at the arms! Huge!"

"True." Waib was standing by the docking bay door, he was about to leave when he caught sight of the aliens. "You see the one with lighter hair? The biceps are as large and as round as my head!"

"The darker haired one appears younger." Doi-Yung pointed out. Frowning he asked, "are they male or female?"

Vynily shrugged, "that's assuming they reproduce sexually." He looked down at them, "I wouldn't know."

"I'd think they're both male." Doi-Yung said suddenly, "I saw the others, they were all similar in shape, except one, it was different, and I think it was a she."

Commander Chlab came marching into the docking bay. When he caught sight of the aliens his eyes narrowed. He frowned.

"Not what we expected, Commander, eh?" Waib said. Still standing by the doors.

Commander shook his head, "no. Not at all. But by the sun, they're at least twice as tall as we are, Doi-Yung how did you manage to get them in your pod?"

"There's something called a tractor beam." Doi-Yung mumbled, "it's very useful when hauling large aliens."

"Oh, they're not as large as you think they are." Vynily said, "this size is standard, it's us that are small."

Waib snorted.

"Are they going to live?" Chlab asked in concern.

Vynily examined the creatures, "I hope. I'll see what I can do, I need assistance in hauling them to sick bay."

"Okay," Commander Chlab said, "Waib and I can take care of that, you get your stuff ready and we'll bring them over."

Vynily nodded. He frowned, "their blood is _red_?"

"Yes," Wiab noted, "so?"

"It's just…well. Forget it."

Commander Chlab shrugged, "come on. I have a feeling these guys are even heavier than they appear to be. Come on. Doi-Yung, you grab the leg, I'll try and grab the shoulders, Waib…the other leg…by the sun, he really is heavy, okay, by my count, one…two…no, no, not like that, Doi-Yung! The foot!"

*** *** *** 

** Sarah Brynes**

What? David said suspiciously, where are we?

"Cemetery."

I was standing in front of Rachel's monument.

Why?

"I thought you wanted to meet Rachel." I said, "and here we are."

David fell silent, even his nose stopped twitching. She's dead?

"Rachel? Yeah. She is."

A longer period of silence.

How?

I shrugged, took him out of my pocket and set him before the monument, "Jake did it."

Wait. Jake killed Rachel? David sounded puzzled. Why would he do that?

"Well, he didn't kill her exactly." I said slowly, trying to get my facts right. "there was a battle, the last battle. And well, its confusing. All I know is that Jake sent Rachel after his brother –a controller then- and his brother was on a blade ship and Jake asked Rachel to kill his brother and then the Yeerks killed her –there's a tape of it. Well, a hologram recording. The entire Andalite world witnessed her death as it happened. She's a real hero. Here and on the Andalite homeworld. That Andalite that was with them? He's a real big shot now."

Who else died?

"Auxiliary Animorphs. And some of the free Hork-Bajir."

Auxiliary Animorphs? _Free_ Hork-Bajir?

"Yeah, what, you didn't know? About two years ago Tobias liberated two Hork-Bajir. I guess their numbers multiplied into what they are today –a few hundred."

David wasn't listening to me, he repeated, What auxiliary Animorphs?

"They all died, they were twenty something -their numbers I mean. They were just as young as you were I guess. They've been recruited by Jake. They're all handicapped. That's why they survived Yeerk detection. I guess even aliens write off cripples." I was thinking about my looks. I wasn't a cripple was I? Maybe I was imperfect. But I wasn't a cripple. Then I added. "Jake killed a few thousand Yeerks too. Flushed them in space."

You see?! he cried out suddenly, I don't believe this! And the word thinks they're heroes?! Are you telling me that the world _forgave_ Jake for sending his cousin to kill his brother? Are you telling me that the world _forgave_ Jake for killing handicapped kids?! Are you telling me the world _forgave_ Jake for killing all those Yeerks in cold blood?! Why? WHY!? He's criminal! It's injustice! And I bet if I blurt out my story the world will forgive him too, huh? Or worse they wouldn't believe me!

I shrugged, "I don't know about that. I believed you."

I want revenge. David whispered, And I'll get it! I'll get it!

"What ever you want." I said cautiously.

I need you to take me to Jake! he cried out, I want to talk to him. Yes, we'll go. But don't tell him I'm with you! If he finds out I'm near he'll kill me!

"Um. I don't think so."

What?! David snapped.

"Jake's not here."

Why?

"Don't know, authorities are either hiding him or he's really missing. So is Marco. As for Tobias, even if he is here I'll never get to him because he lives in the forest."

David laughed, it was crazed laughter, I'm _glad_ Rachel's dead. If it's making him this miserable I'm glad!

"So."

What about Cassie? He said suddenly. Is she here?

"Well, yeah. She is. She sort of zips around helping Hork-Bajir and studies medicine…I think she wants to be a vet or something."

Okay…okay, um, David looked at me, as if it was the first time he actually looked at my face. You haven't told me your name.

"Brynes. Sarah Brynes. Call me that."

Okay. Brynes, we have a… David's eyes glinted, …we have a mission. Are you with me?

"Sure." I nodded, "but just a few steps behind you."


End file.
